You knew it was coming.

Here we are in November again, and it is time to take a peek at the 2007 final figures from the National Transit Database to see just how well EZ Rider performed last fiscal year:

All of these figures come from the National Transit Database

Now what about passengers?

The percentages breakdown like this: Fares: 11%, Local Taxes: 14%, State Taxes: 21% and Federal Taxes: 53%

So what is this in numbers anyone can understand? Well, according to the 2007 report it cost $4.89 for every bus UPT (unlinked passenger trip) [up from $4.52] and $15.66 for every para-transit UPT [up from $15.62]. UPT is a bureaucratic term, which basically means every time a passenger walks onto a bus. In Midland it takes, to make most cross town trips takes 4 UPT's to make a round trip on a bus and 2 UPT's on a para-transit. So in 2007 it cost $19.56 for every person who traveled on a fixed route and 31.32 for every person who traveled on a demand bus to make a round trip. In 2006 these figures were $18.08 and $31.24 respectively and in 2005 these figures were $21.40 and $24.32 respectively, in 2004 these figures were $24.72 and $34.90 respectively.

Costs didn't go up significantly in 2007, but remember, this data is only through September 30, 2007, which was before oil shot up to $140 a barrel. Fares increased slightly and State funding was flat, so our local government had to kick in quite a bit more, and the Feds really came to the rescue of our local governments with a significant funding increase.

As always, I wonder when that majority funding from the State and Feds might dry up?