(The Associated Press circulated the following article on July 24.)
BOSTON — Amtrak’s Downeaster finished its fiscal year with the biggest jump in ridership since the start of the Portland-to-Boston service, and that was before numbers spiked because of recent problems plaguing Boston’s Big Dig.
The Downeaster wrapped up the fiscal year that ended last month with 329,265 passengers – an increase of 31 percent over the previous year. Revenue grew to $4.35 million, surpassing the $3.3 million during the previous fiscal year.
The passenger growth was the biggest on a percentage basis anywhere in the Amtrak system during the period, spokeswoman Tracy Connell said.
High gas prices probably had something to do with the strong passenger numbers, along with growing familiarity with the Downeaster service, said Patricia Douglas, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority.
In recent days, traffic congestion caused by Boston’s Big Dig problems has sent the train’s ridership even higher, Douglas said.
In Boston, the Interstate 90 tunnel has been closed to passenger traffic since 12 tons of ceiling tiles fell from a connecting tunnel, crushing a motorist July 10. And the eastbound side of the Ted Williams Tunnel is open only to buses and emergency vehicles.
Detours have caused major traffic tie-ups.
An Amtrak ticketing agent noted that a number of passengers boarding in Portland have remarked on the Big Dig mess. “People are commenting, ‘I’m not going near that mess with my car. We’re going to take the train,'” Douglas said.
On Friday, Californian Joanie Hoffman was one of those who chose to take the Downeaster after hearing about the Big Dig problems.
Hoffman considered but rejected renting a car to travel to Boston after she and her son spent a week in Maine. Then she considered taking a bus, but she saw media reports that buses were slowed to a crawl as well.
“It’s hard enough to drive in Boston, but with something like that, it would be impossible,” said Hoffman of Citrus Heights, Calif.
Douglas said average daily ridership grew to 1,012 between July 10, the day of the tunnel ceiling collapse, and July 14, compared with 688 in the same period last year, according to preliminary figures. Between July 15 and 20, average daily ridership was 1,031, compared with 841 a year ago. Before the Big Dig incident, ridership was actually down from July 1 to July 9.
The Downeaster started its record year before the Big Dig problems, though. Ridership records have been set every month since September, Douglas said.
Systemwide, Amtrak has had seen three years of record growth, but overall increase in ridership has been in the single digits, Connell said.
The Downeaster went into operation on Dec. 15, 2001, with four daily trips in each direction between Portland and Boston’s North Station. The Downeaster hopes to add a fifth round trip during the coming year, Douglas said.
Stops include Old Orchard Beach, Saco and Wells in Maine; Dover, Durham and Exeter in New Hampshire; and Haverhill and Woburn in Massachusetts.
Wayne Davis, who launched TrainRiders Northeast to study the feasibility of Boston-to-Portland passenger rail service in the late 1980s, said he knew all along the train would be a success. “After 18 years, it’s hard almost not to say, ‘I told you so, I told you so, I told you so,’ ” Davis said.