Commuter rail ridership rises at T.F. Green

By PBN Staff
Twitter: @ProvBusNews

PROVIDENCE – More passengers are using the commuter rail service between Providence and T.F. Green Airport but numbers are still lower than officials hoped for when the train station opened in late 2010, according to The Associated Press.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials reported that an average of 149 people take the train to T.F. Green Airport in Warwick each weekday.

Daily, an average 177 people catch the commuter rail at the airport during the work week and ride north to Providence or Boston.

Ridership has doubled since last year, but Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian told the news organization that officials hope to see numbers rise even higher.

“Obviously, it’s a slower start than we'd hoped for, but we have all the pieces in place to make it work,” he said. “The key is to make it as convenient as possible or people won’t use it.”

Bryan Lucier, a spokesman at the R.I. Deptartment of Transportation, said that service south of Providence is still in early stages and that ridership to and from T.F. Green “has exceeded RIDOT’s expectations,” said the Associated Press.