2013 ECAT Ridership Up

August 6, 2013

ECAT announced Monday that ridership numbers for the first half of 2013 are up 3.5 percent over the same period in 2012. From January to June of 2013, ECAT has provided 739,646 rides, an increase of nearly 25,000 when compared to the previous year.

“For us, this year-to-date snapshot only confirms that the community is continuing to drive the demand for public transportation services here locally,” said Herold Humphreys, general manager of ECAT. “These are exciting times, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to provide dependable service to a growing number of riders each and every month.”

Contributing to the increase was  the June 20 “Dump the Pump” ridership promotion. ECAT, along with more than 100 other transit systems and agencies nationwide, encouraged everyone to try transit for a day. ECAT reported 4,692 rides on this single day – an increase of 10.8 percent when compared to the event in 2012.

“These ridership increases come at a time when we’re utilizing more tools than ever before to communicate with current and potential riders,” said Vikki Garret, staff to the Florida-Alabama Transportation Planning Organization and a West Florida Regional Planning Council planner. “Specifically, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are allowing us to reach untapped markets and provide enhanced customer service across the board.”

Comments

One Response to “2013 ECAT Ridership Up”

  1. How about it? on August 6th, 2013 10:29 am

    Wonderful! Now increase the fares so we can avoid another increased fuel tax on us non-riders.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News