Study Finds RTD Has Most Bus Riders in U.S.
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The Southern California Rapid Transit District carries on the average more bus passengers than any other public transit system in the nation, a federal study released Tuesday showed.
Nick Patsaouras, president of the RTD board, announced the findings in Los Angeles during the first of his planned quarterly “State of the District” messages.
The study of the nation’s leading transit systems, conducted in 1988, found that the RTD carries an average of 18.1 passengers per bus at any given time, compared to 15.4 passengers for New York and 15.3 for Chicago, its two nearest competitors in the category.
In the study by the federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration, the RTD surpassed the other 19 largest bus operators in total passenger miles.
“We carry more people that any other system, excluding New York and Chicago which have both bus and rail service,” Patsaouras said.
Patsaouras said that although RTD ridership has seen a steady decline since its peak of nearly 500 million passenger trips in 1985, the latest figures indicate the trend may be reversing.
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