Post by nickchu

A QUICK LOOK AT SOME OF THE STATISTICS THAT MAKE YOUR CITIES WORK (OR NOT):

Trips taken on public transportation in US: 10.7 billion

Trips taken each weekday: 35 million

Value of public transit industry: $48.4 billion

Amount of carbon emissions reduced by a person switching to public transit: 4800 pounds/year

Gallons of gasoline saved by public transit users: 4.2 billion gallons

Equivalent to: 3x amount of gasoline imported from Kuwait

New York’s most notorious transit rider: Darius McCollum

Joy rides taken on trains and buses resulting in arrests: 24

Age of first offence: 15

Last heavy rail project completed in US: Washington Metro Blue Line

Year: 2004

Length: 3.2 miles

Cost: $695 million or $217 million/mile

Cost to install air-conditioning on Montreal’s public transit system: $50 million

First streetcar in US: Bowery (New York City)

Year opened: 1832

Power source: Horse-drawn

First cable car in the world: Clay Street, San Francisco

Reason for implementing cable: Reduce labour costs and animal hardship

Year opened: 1873

Average speed: 15km/h

First time bus ridership exceeded street railway ridership: 1940

Largest urban transit system of funiculars: Naples

Number of funiculars: 4

Years built: 1889 – 1931

Capacity of Centrale Line: 3 cars for 450 spaces

$1 billion investment into transit operations: 41,140 jobs created

$1 billion investment into transit capital costs: 23,788 jobs created

Cost to hire a civil engineering grad in India: $255/month

Cost of Detroit’s people mover: $200 million

Length: 3 mile elevated track

Opening: 1987

Initial projections: 50,000 riders/day

Current: 6,000 riders /day – cost per ride at $5 subsidies

International Whaling Commission’s recommended method for euthanizing large whales: Explosives