(The following story by Ted Jackovics appeared on The Tampa Tribune website on April 13, 2009.)
TAMPA, Fla. — Despite a nationwide decline in Amtrak ridership, business on the train that serves Tampa on the New York-Miami route increased 7.1 percent in February compared with a year ago to 24,759 passengers.
Ridership on the Silver Star was the third highest among Amtrak’s 15 long-distance trains. Data for the Tampa station was not immediately available.
Nationwide, Amtrak ridership declined 8.9 percent to 1.85 million in February.
The government-operated railroad attributed the drop to low gasoline prices, the deepening recession, growing unemployment and steep cuts in corporate business travel that hit Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor trains particularly hard. That included a 16.5 percent drop on the high-speed Acela service between Boston and Washington.
But the Silver Star, which serves Tampa, continued to increase ridership, with a 10.4 percent gain for the first five months of the fiscal year that began in October. Railroad officials attribute Silver Star gains to on-time performance improvements and increased interest in rail as an alternative travel mode.
Amtrak fares vary by demand. A one-way coach ticket from Tampa to Miami this weekend costs $36, while a one-way ticket from Tampa to New York costs $261, compared with $117 for that trip in mid-May after the peak season demand..
Silver Star revenue declined 10.4 percent in February to $1.8 million, largely because of a $146,105 decline in sleeper car revenue.