Growth in transit use outpaced the rate of increase for driving, with total annual passenger miles traveled on New Jersey’s state-operated bus and rail systems, as well as privately-operated bus service, and PATCO and PATH service jumping 30 percent from 1997 to 2004.
The number of passenger miles traveled on NJTransit's commuter rail service grew dramatically, by 64 percent, from 1997 to 2004. In 2004, riders traveled nearly 1.9 billion miles on NJTransit's 11 rail lines. The surge in ridership results from service expansion such as the start of direct access to Penn Station on the Montclair and Boonton Lines in 2002, as well as increased frequency of service on other lines. Use of PATH and PATCO rail service fell off after 2001, with annual passenger miles declining 6 percent from 1997 to 2004. PATH service, in particular, was hard hit by the September 11th terrorist attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center PATH station and forced closure of others. In 2004, PATH ridership began to recover.
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Source: FTA. National Transit Database, Transit Operating Statistics: Service Supplied and Service Consumed: Details by Transit Agency DO and PT Service, 1997-2004. |
Use of NJTransit’s bus service has grown 11 percent from 1997 to 2004, with riders logging more than 930 million in 2004. Since 1998, the first year for which complete data were available, use of private bus service has grown about two percent.
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Source: FTA. National Transit Database, Transit Operating Statistics: Service Supplied and Service Consumed: Details by Transit Agency DO and PT Service, 1997-2004. |
Use of NJTransit's Light Rail service nearly tripled from 1997 to 2004, largely due to the opening of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line in 2000, several subsequent extensions of that system, extension of the Newark subway, and the launch of the Camden-Trenton RiverLine in 2003.
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Source: FTA. National Transit Database, Transit Operating Statistics: Service Supplied and Service Consumed: Details by Transit Agency DO and PT Service, 1997-2004. |
Transit ridership (individual passenger trips) fell off markedly after the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. However, in recent years it has rebounded. Preliminary 2005 data from NJTransit show that ridership on the state's primary transit systems has surpassed 2001 levels.
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Source: FTA. National Transit Database, Transit Operating Statistics: Service Supplied and Service Consumed: Details by Transit Agency DO and PT Service, 1997-2004. |
Rail ridership grew 15 percent from 1997 to 2004, three times faster than bus ridership growth (5 percent). Yet buses continue to serve more transit passengers, carrying 57 percent of transit riders in 2004, compared to 42 percent for rail (with ferries and other options carrying the balance).
Per person, transit miles traveled grew by more than 20 percent from 1997 to 2004. In 2004, every man, woman, and child in New Jersey logged 480 miles on the state's various transit systems. Car travel still dominates, however; in 2004, New Jersey residents traveled 17 times as many miles in cars and trucks than in transit vehicles.