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Holiday Travelers Looking to Buses, Trains Over Planes

Posted on: Monday, 5 December 2005, 21:00 CST

By Julie Bisbee, The Daily Oklahoman

Dec. 4--As the price of flying inches higher, some travelers are looking to buses and trains to get them to their holiday destinations.

The number of people riding on Amtrak is up over last year, and Greyhound has seen increases in its service, even as the bus company restructures and removes nearly 1,000 locations from its routes.

Nationally, Amtrak's ridership increased as more travelers are opting for alternatives to driving as gasoline prices stayed high.

In Oklahoma, the number of people riding the Heartland Flyer between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth was up for October, which has the most recent figures available.

Figures show that 11.2 percent more people rode the Heartland Flyer in October compared with the same month in 2004, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.

For the 2005 fiscal year that ended in September, the number of passengers on the Heartland Flyer was up 23.1 percent over the previous year. Amtrak said 66,968 people boarded the train in fiscal 2005.

"Some of it could be gas prices," Magliari said. "But a lot of it (is) people don't have to fight the crowds. Also, if they are traveling with presents, unlike going through an airport, they don't have to unwrap their presents."

A round-trip ticket to Fort Worth ranges from $48 to $80.

If the number of people traveling on buses and trains over Thanksgiving is any indication of what the demand will be over the Christmas holiday, the alternate modes of transportation could stand to gain ridership during the period that spans Dec. 14 and Jan. 4, said Anna Solmnsbee, spokeswoman for Greyhound Lines Inc.

During the 2004 Christmas holiday season, 1.4 million people rode a Greyhound bus. But Greyhound has eliminated more than 1,000 routes as part of a national restructuring plan, so this year's numbers could be different.

"Most people use the bus to visit family and friends," Solmnsbee said. "Greyhound is an affordable and safe way to get where you are going."

The average price of a ticket on Greyhound is $41. Most of its passengers are between the ages of 18 and 25, Solmnsbee said.

"We don't have a set demographic, but most passengers have used a plane in the last year," Solmnsbee said.

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LI, BUS,

Source: The Daily Oklahoman

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