Winter may end CDTA’s ridership streak

The Capital District Transportation Authority hasn’t suffered the problems of the snow-inundated Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, but the long streak of bitterly cold and snowy weather has still taken its toll.

For February, CDTA expects to see its first year-to-year ridership decline in several years, said CEO Carm Basile.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise. When it’s cold out, people stay home. They don’t go to work, they don’t go to school, they don’t go shopping,” he said.

Bus ridership, which has consistently been up by 4 or 5 percent each month for the past year, grew by only 1 percent in January, and will probably be off by about 1 percent in February.

Last February, CDTA buses carried 1.35 million riders.

The winter weather’s impact means CDTA may fall short of the record 17 million riders that has been its goal for the fiscal year, which ends March 31. Through the end of January, Basile said there had been 14.2 million riders.

“It’s been a tough month for us pretty much all over the organization,” he said Wednesday at a CDTA board meeting at the Rensselaer Amtrak station.

Drivers, mechanics, schedulers and those who clean buses and bus stops have all had to work harder because of the weather, he said.

Other large upstate transit organizations have also seen ridership drop this winter, according to Basile, who is president of the New York Public Transit Association.

In eastern Massachusetts, the 100 inches of snow that has walloped greater Boston in recent weeks has led to delays and service reductions at the MBTA, which normally carries 1.3 million passengers each weekday. Service isn’t expected to return to normal until sometime in March.

While CDTA hasn’t had to suspend or reduce any scheduled routes because of bad weather, there have been many service delays — especially on the Route 50 line between Schenectady and Saratoga Springs. CDTA marketing director Jonathan Scherzer said that route’s length means that relatively minor factors can lead to a series of small delays that gradually build into a longer delay further down the line.

“The accumulated snow is making street operations difficult, and we remain focused on safety,” Basile said. “Stations, shelters and stops are being cleared, but it is not uncommon to see customers standing in the street waiting to board.”

Scherzer said there have also been personnel issues, as bus drivers and others had to be shifted if another employee couldn’t make it to work or was late.

He said the number of calls for customer assistance has dropped, though, apparently because the CDTA website now provides real-time information on delays geared to people using mobile devices.

CDTA officials also announced Wednesday that smart-card and mobile-ticketing applications being introduced later this year will be known as the Navigator. The card will have a silver, blue and gold color combination and will have more payment flexibility that the current Swiper card.

The branding was developed by Jones Worley, a transit-specific agency that has worked on smart-card rollouts in Atlanta, St, Louis, Pittsburgh and Houston, and Overit Media of Albany.

Pilot testing of the card will start this spring, with full rollout expected later this year. The new payment system will also eventually allow people to pay their fares with a smartphone.

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