As Gas Costs Climb, Ridership on Metrorail is Rising (Miami)

[marmar]

from the Miami Herald, via MassTransitMag:




April 18--M. Evelina Galang lives only four miles away from her job at the University of Miami campus, yet sometimes traffic is so bad during rush hour on U.S. 1 and its intersecting avenues that it takes the creative writing program director an hour to get home.

As she sits in traffic, she can see the Metrorail trains whizzing by, but although she has taken public transportation in every major city where she has lived -- Manila, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C. -- Galang had never considered it an option in South Florida until now.

"There's a lack of trust," she says. "I've been living here for 11/2 years and I drive everywhere. In these other cities, you know it's (the train) coming, but here the perception is that you may be left stranded if a meeting or an event goes on too long."

But with gas prices on the rise and predicted to reach $5 a gallon this summer more people like Galang, who is spending about $45 every time she fills up her Honda, are reconsidering their transportation options. Metro-Dade Transit officials say the number of people boarding Metrorail trains increased by 7 percent from January 2010 to January 2011. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/10255359/as-gas-costs-climb-ridership-on-metrorail-is-rising