17 Responses to “ECAT Reports Ridership Up”

1. Sarah on March 5th, 2014 11:09 am

   Hi, Robert – sorry for the delayed response.

   You know, I don’t know how many buses ECAT runs each day or what the operating costs are – those are really good questions. I just thought that – given what I have seen in terms of people at the Rosa Parks terminal and on buses – your number of 150 rides per day seemed really low. And that 7-8 people per bus per day also seemed low.

   You’re right that public transportation isn’t necessarily supposed to be profitable (in fact, I’m not sure there is a system that clears a profit) is well-made and definitely well-taken. I also have no skin in the game as I no longer reside in Pensacola, but I do know that route systems (like ECAT) are much cheaper to run than the dial-a-ride type services that counties (cities?) are required by law to provide. It’s why so many systems try to make their buses and stops ADA compliant.

   Good conversation for sure, though! Thanks!

2. Robert on February 19th, 2014 6:12 pm

   Hello Sara:

   I am not a math expert either. I did forget to exclude the days ECAT does not run, but you did not factor in that that ECAT runs more than one bus. So using your ridership figures which mathematically may be more correct, you do come out to your figure of 5,381 rides per day.

   I just took a swing and estimated that ECAT runs 20 buses per day so this results in the following equation:

   5,381/20 = 269 (rounded) rides per day using 20 buses as a base number (it could be more or less obviously).

   As I said, I don’t have any skin in the game I live in SR County, just doing the math and I apologize for my omission of the days they do not run. I’ve never ridden ECAT, I was just running numbers. I’d like to take it a step further to know the actual number of buses running, their acquisition costs, operating costs, and depreciation. That way we would have a more accurate figure of what it cost each of those 269 people to ride the bus each day. Of course, we would have to add in the fare they pay.

   Have I left anything else out, admitting that my 20 bus figure was just a reasonable guess?

   As an aside, public transportation is not necessarily supposed to be profitable, it is a service. But just for the sake of conversation, lets say it costs $3,000.00 per day to run the buses, or $150.00 per day including salaries, fuel, depreciation, maintenance, etc.. That results in this equation:

   $3,000.00/269 = $11.00. That does not include the fare but lets say it is $2.00 so you would have 269 people paying $2.00 = $538.00 in income so net cost to operate would be $3,000.00 – $538 = $2,462.00 divided by 269 (number of riders) = $9.15 per rider.

   Do you know how much the average fare is? Again, I just estimated.

   Regards

3. Sarah on February 17th, 2014 7:24 am

   Robert,

   I am no math expert, but I think there might be an error in your calculations…

   ECAT doesn’t run on Sundays, and it also doesn’t run on Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. That brings the number of days ECAT was in service for the 4th quarter down to something like 75 days.

   And I think you made the mistake of dividing too many times. By my math (which, again, might be off), if you take the 403,612 rides and divide by the number of days of service (roughly 75), that gives you 5,381 rides a day.

4. Robert on February 15th, 2014 8:05 pm

   Correct me if I am wrong but according to my math:

   403,612/90 day (fourth quarter) = 4,485 rides per month

   4,485 per month/30 (days in a month) = 150 rider per day (rounded)

   Continual funding of this monstrosity is not financially feasible. Of course I live in SR Count so I do not have skin in the game, just running the numbers. Taking it a step further and making a wild guess that they have 20 buses so of the daily ride rate of 150 divide that by 20 = 7.5 people per bus per day. Really, someone needs to ride one of the major routes with a video camera to log the number of riders, same for the lesser used routes. I know some people are dependent on ECAT for work and such but ECAT could very likely be scaled way down.

   Robert

5. Mark T. on February 15th, 2014 7:46 pm

   Everett, ( how much goes to the union ) REALLY ???…

6. Jane on February 15th, 2014 4:49 am

   How about using CNG buses instead of raising gas taxes? They would be quieter and more economical and better for the environment!

7. Everett on February 14th, 2014 7:16 pm

   Does those numbers apply to those who don’t pay to ride?

   Are the ECAT bus’s the same ones that provide free transportation on Pensacola Beach?

   If the time has been to do the number of riders then we weed to see the total moneys collected for that time frame.

   What percentage of the money collected goes to the union?

8. Free Ride...Edgar Winter on February 14th, 2014 3:42 pm

   Pat all yourselves on the back for the .04 tax per gallon per gas…

   Call your county commissioners and thank them…I thank Grooooooooover once a week for that and allowing the trees to be removed along “not so Scenic Hwy”….

   Happy Hearts Day to all…

9. fred on February 14th, 2014 10:46 am

   Just wondering, what improvements to ECAT service would it take to get you to ride the bus? I don’t use it either, but in large cities I do use public transportation. What would it take here?

   More routes?
   Faster point to point time?
   Wi Fi on every bus?
   Light rail service from Century to Pensacola?

   I know most of the commentators on this site favor abolishment of the bus system, or remove it from public funding, but short of doing that, what would you like to see done?

10. nod on February 14th, 2014 9:48 am

    what could the new expericence be???? another tax increase for the non-riders to support the system.

11. HARRIET on February 14th, 2014 8:57 am

    AGREE WITH JASON AND JT. BUSES ARE EXPENSIVE MONSTERS THAT RUN ON DIESEL. SMALLER TRANSPORATION VEHICLES SUCH AS VANS WOULD BE MORE ECONOMICAL.

12. Walnut Hill Roy on February 14th, 2014 8:36 am

    Nothing in the article says that the number given is for the Century to Pensacola run, I would really like to know what that run costs per rider and how many riders there were.

13. NO!!!! on February 14th, 2014 8:27 am

    DO NOT RIDE ECAT! Boycott them until they take the gas tax away.

14. Joe Bagofdoughnuts on February 14th, 2014 7:54 am

    Good question Jason.

    I would be interested in knowing how much pollution is generated (per rider) driving a mostly empty bus around town for two or three riders.

    We need to remember the career politicians that forced this fiasco on us at the next election.

15. Perhaps on February 14th, 2014 7:46 am

    I wonder if ECAT used the same bean counters as the ACA.

16. JT on February 14th, 2014 7:10 am

    I have still never seen more than 5 people on a single bus. They could provide this service with a large van.

17. Jason on February 14th, 2014 1:03 am

    Any idea on what is the cost per ride or the cost per mile to operate?

    I’m not looking for what ECAT charges to ride the bus, but what the total expenses of operations divided by the number of riders as well as the expenses divided by miles driven.