DART Resort Transit 2010 Season Has Record Ridership And Park & Ride Usage

Wilmington -- October 13, 2010 - The Resort Transit 2010 season of DART First State was a phenomenal success evidencing that the public will embrace riding public transit when the service specifically meets their traveling and budget needs. An all time record of 393,976 people rode the resort area buses from May 27th to September 19th. Ridership during the 2010 season was up 19.48% over last year.

There are many reasons for the success this year. There was the media domineering marketing program, an economic climate where people stayed closer to home to vacation, the new Resort Transit buses, millions of hits on the Ride DART at the Beach web site, and the consumer friendly bus schedules. According to the National Weather Service, the June to August 2010 summer was the second warmest on record globally since 1998. All of these factors played an important part in making the 2010 Resort Transit season so successful.

The DART Park & Ride at Rehoboth Beach saw 23.92% more cars parked over last year. This made a total of 30,253 vehicles for the season versus 24,201 last year during the same time. A majority of the increase was due to a continued partnership between DART First State and the City of Rehoboth. The number of Rehoboth employees using the Park & Ride increased by 36.74% over last year.

Resort Transit Bus Route 201, serving the Rehoboth Boardwalk, was by far the most popular Route in the Rehoboth area. This season DART transported 258,243 passengers on this route, which saw a 20.18% increase over last year.

DART Route 305, Beach Connection, provided weekend and holiday service between Wilmington and Rehoboth from May 28th to September 6th. This route experienced its best season. It transported 4,716 passengers which was 9.45% more than last year.

Bus Route 208, serving Rehoboth to Ocean City, Maryland, also set records. There was a 17.93% increase in riders during 2010 from 2009. This route had record ridership every week of service.

Bus Route 205, the late night local between Rehoboth and Lewes, showed the most growth. This route catered to the evening crowds by leaving the Park & Ride at 10 p.m. and returning back at 3 a.m. This year it had a 23.97% increase in riders from 2009.

Other routes that experienced ridership increases are the Route 203, Rehoboth local, was up 17.15%, Route 204, Rehoboth to Lewes, service increased 16.72%, and the Route 206, Rehoboth to Georgetown, saw a 6.26% increase.

During the 2010 season Resort Transit also transported 4,047 bikes, which is a 32% increase over 2009.

DTC Executive Director Stephen Kingsberry said, We are very pleased that all of our Resort Transit routes transported many more beach goers during the Resort 2010 season and helped us set a new ridership record. We are thrilled that more and more people experienced the benefits of riding public transit instead of driving around looking for a place to park.