A record number of Placer County motorists are abandoning their vehicles in favor of the county's bus systems.
More than 317,000 passengers rode Placer County Transit buses on fixed routes between Roseville and Alta during the 2007-08 fiscal year, a 15 percent increase over the previous year, the county announced today.
Placer Commuter Express, a weekday bus service that takes commuters from western Placer County to downtown Sacramento and back, had 56,068 riders, an increase of 39 percent.
Tahoe Area Regional Transit last fiscal year surpassed the 400,000-passenger mark for the first time in its history. TART had 433,628 riders, an increase of 19 percent, the county reported.
Jim Holmes, chairman of the Placer County Board of Supervisors, said the surge in ridership "is largely due to high gasoline prices."
"But Public Works deserves a lot of credit for providing reliable, convenient service that meets the public's needs," Holmes said in a news release.
Will Garner, the county's public works manager for transit services, said his office is getting more calls than ever from the public about bus service. In addition, the county Web site for transit information was viewed 49,040 times in June, an 83 percent increase from April and a 250 percent increase since December, he said.
The county's transit information can be viewed at www.placer.ca.gov/transit.
Call The Bee's Art Campos, (916) 773-2825.
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