The year 1976, 1977 and 1978 were an interim period between the gasoline shortages of 1974 and the crunch of 1979. The American public preferred to forget about the shortage, returning to their automobiles albeit at a higher price for fuel, with the result that rail ridership settled back to the growth trends existing prior to the shortage. Metroliner ridership slipped from the 1974 high of almost 2.5 million to 2.1, 1.9 and 1.8 million riders in 1976, 1977 and 1978. The 1978 figure is a drop of 28 percent; conventional passengers have decreased less dramatically from more than 5.0 to 4.0 million in 1976, 3.9 million in 1977, and 4.1 million in 1978, an average of twenty percent decrease. Some proportion of the decrease in known conventional riders results from no longer counting 'through New York passengers' twice, i.e., once north and again south of New York as had happened with the old Data Tag System.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite