Even after an unusually rough start in the first three months of this year the Amtrak Cascades are setting record ridership numbers.
With the peak summer season underway, and gas prices at a premium, more travelers are choosing Amtrak Cascades for their trips between Vancouver, B.C., and Eugene, Ore. Amtrak Cascades achieved significant ridership growth in the second quarter of 2011, carrying nearly three quarters of a million people and breaking the record reached in 2010 according to a recent press release.
Ridership on Amtrak Cascades was down 10 percent after the first quarter of 2011. The unusually high number of mudslides that cancelled many trains contributed significantly to the decrease, as well as the absence of the tourism created last year by the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. Total ridership on Amtrak Cascades year to date is 398,207 through June 30. Total ridership through June of 2010 was 398,414.
In 2010, total ridership on Amtrak Cascades finished with a 16-year high of 838,251 passengers and exceeded 2009 by 76,641 for a 10 percent increase. The final ridership total capped a year of record breaking numbers where eight of the 12 months set new benchmarks.
Train ridership nationwide has been soaring as Amtrak service has set annual ridership records in seven of the last eight years. Factors contributing to the continuing success of train travel include high gasoline prices, the increased appeal and popularity of rail travel, and effective marketing campaigns.
Amtrak Cascades operates three daily round trips between Portland and Seattle; one daily round trip between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., and one between Portland and Vancouver, B.C.; and two daily round trips between Eugene and Seattle, via Portland. Amtrak Cascades is operated by Amtrak in partnership with the Washington and Oregon Departments of Transportation. For Amtrak Cascades fares and schedules, visit AmtrakCascades.com.
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