DOWNEASTER COMPLETES ANOTHER RECORD-BREAKING YEAR
PORTLAND, MAINE – July 21, 2008 The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority has released final Downeaster ridership numbers for fiscal year 2008, which was July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008.
Downeaster ridership for FY08 was 441,769 riders – a 28% increase over FY07. Downeaster ticket revenues for the same period were $6,076,517, a 33% increase over the previous year. NNEPRA credits gas prices, in addition to increased frequency, a better schedule and reduced travel time, with the dramatic increase.
Ridership increased on all trains and among all markets. Records were set in both April 2008 and June 2008 when Downeaster monthly ridership surpassed 40,000 monthly riders for the first time. Overall, the average number of daily riders increased from 947 in FY07 to 1,207 in FY08. To accommodate additional riders, and additional passenger car has been added to each Downeaster train.
Across the country, Amtrak has seen a significant system-wide ridership increase of 12.7% during its fiscal year to date (October 1, 2007-June 30, 2008). Ridership on the Downeaster has increased 31.9% since October, which is the greatest percentage increase among all of Amtrak’s 30 different routes.
Despite the dramatic increase in business, the Downeaster continues to be among Amtrak’s favorite routes as well, scoring 97% in Amtrak’s national Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) survey in May 2008. The average national CSI average for all Amtrak routes was 80%.
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