Paramount Theatre
Tale of Two Trains
RECEIVED Fri., July 16, 2010
Dear Editor,
Based on News items I've read in the Chronicle the past two weeks, I expected the MetroRail train to be empty when I rode it Downtown from Highland Station this morning (Friday). I was shocked when the train that pulled into the station was almost full. Every pair of seats on the train had either one or two riders. The photo of a totally empty train that you chose to run on July 16 was very misleading [“MetroRail in Search of Riders,” News]. You also did not mention what I heard on the radio – ridership was actually up in June compared with May. Please be more accurate and objective when choosing photos to accompany News stories.
Based on News items I've read in the Chronicle the past two weeks, I expected the MetroRail train to be empty when I rode it Downtown from Highland Station this morning (Friday). I was shocked when the train that pulled into the station was almost full. Every pair of seats on the train had either one or two riders. The photo of a totally empty train that you chose to run on July 16 was very misleading [“MetroRail in Search of Riders,” News]. You also did not mention what I heard on the radio – ridership was actually up in June compared with May. Please be more accurate and objective when choosing photos to accompany News stories.
Thanks,
Paul Kevin Smith
Paul Kevin Smith
[Chronicle Capital Metro reporter Lee Nichols responds: A single train ride does not give a full portrayal of MetroRail's overall ridership. I could just as easily point to a couple of trips I took Downtown this summer on nearly deserted trains. I did not mention June ridership numbers in the July 16 article because, at the time I wrote it, those numbers had not been made public. June ridership was 837 boardings per day, up slightly from May's 775. Nonetheless, it does not invalidate my main point: Ridership is still less than half what Capital Metro predicted the Red Line would have by now.]