Quote:
Originally Posted by rob_jackel
I don't use the riverline myself, but I work in Camden right next to the broadway station, and I see the riverline trains crowded. even the midday trains, around 1PM often seem to have standing room only. I can't figure it out, I don't know where all these people are going, but they're going somewhere.
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Ridership is pushing 8000 a day now.
I've ridden the Riverline quite a bit. Mostly on the weekends and only a few times during rush hour. From what i've seen most riders traveling on the Camden end get on/off at Broadway to transfer to/from buses or the Speedline. My brother goes to Rutgers and he says when classes get out the platform is always crowded.
It's much the same thing on the Trenton end. People transfer to buses or trains.
There are a decent amount of people who travel between intermediate points but from what i've noticed it's mostly high school aged kids . . . but that's probably b/c of the times/days i've ridden it. You'd also be surprised at how many people make the trip from Broadway to Trenton. If you're heading from Broadway to Trenton the trip is 64 minutes. The R7 offers a 6 minute savings from Market East which is negated when you consider that it takes 5 minutes on the Speedline to get from Broadway to 8th & Market.
I could see them getting up to near 12,000 pretty quickly with the Capitol extension but I think they're going to hit a wall at that point. They need to get more cars so they can run more two-car trains. Then they'll have to start double-tracking the line. And if the state ever expects to see ridership around 20,000/day they're going to need a lot more residents/jobs around those stations.