The Floridian: It carried 65,000 passengers this month. That’s astounding. It represents 15,700 more riders than the Star/Capitol served last year and 11,000 more than the same month in 2019. My guess from last month seems to have proven quite low. If this 65,000 is accurate (not an adjustment or a typo), it seems quite likely that this train will go down as a smashing success (kinks notwithstanding). Based off the data of about 7 weeks, I’d estimate ridership will settle at 600,000-780,000 over the first 12 full months.
The operating ratio is .56 this month, an improvement over the month prior. Expenses were $10,200,000; revenues were $5,700,000. Only the unique Auto Train and all coach Palmetto had substantially better ratios. The Silver Meteor and Lakeshore were comparable. The third sleeper, should it come next month, would be huge to get the route over .6.
The route delivered 24,300,000 passenger miles this month. It’s constituents delivered 20,500,000 last year, including the NEC segment of the Star, up 18%. Ridership is up 32%, indicating that the growth is real, but some trips are perhaps shorter.
