(The following article by Lindsay Helton was posted on AccessNorthGa.com on March 1.)
ATLANTA — Ridership on the Amtrak Crescent, which stops in Gainesville twice daily, was up last year — but those numbers are a little deceiving.
Gainesville and Atlanta saw an increase in ridership but the total across the state was down. Gainesville recorded an increase of almost 300 passengers and Atlanta increased by almost 900. Toccoa, which is also served by the Crescent, saw its ridership increase just over 200. Boardings and alightings (people getting off) in Atlanta totaled 87,81 -up from 86,916 in 2004.
But the gains were not big enough to offset the losses elsewhere in the state.
According to figures released by the Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers (GARP), last year’s service reduction on Amtrak’s New York-Savannah-Miami line (the Palmetto) had a negative impact on Georgia patronage.
Amtrak pruned the New York-Miami Palmetto back to New York-Savannah, a move that reduced Savannah-Miami service from three round trips per day to two round trips per day. As a result, passenger counts fell at the two Georgia stations along that route: Savannah boardings and alightings fell from 42,603 in 2004 to 39,332 in 2005, while Jesup’s numbers fell from 6,238 in 2004 to 6,190 last year.
So, in a year when Amtrak enjoyed record ridership nationwide, its Georgia state passenger totals fell from 142,965 in 2004 to 141,048 passengers in 2005. Some other numbers: Amtrak spent more than $12.6 million on goods and services in Georgia last year, up sharply from $8.4 million the previous year.