[VeniVidiVici]

The 1998 ridership of the Amtrak California Capitol Corridor (463,000) exceeded the projections cast in 1991 of 165,000 by a consioderable margin. In 2009 and 2010 the ridership was up to 1.5 million which was well in excess of the 1991 projection for 2010 ridership of 450,000.

And it's still a huge money loser.

[Hojczyk]

No one will ride a train from Tampa to Orlando Airport..Tampa has an airport...Plus it will have many stops ..it is not a direct ride..

[MeganC]

“And it’s still a huge money loser.”

Nope, not at all. The trains were originally implemented as an alternative to a much more costly widening of Interstate 80 from State Route 65 to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. By diverting 1.5 million round trips per year from I-80 the Capitols (as they’re called) have saved the taxpayers the approximately $7 billion dollars that was being contemplated to widen the freeway along the same 125 mile route.

The trains were originally supposed to recapture 12% of their costs in fares when the system was (mis)managed by Amtrak and CalTrans. With the JPA running things they’re now recapturing 40% of costs in fares which makes for a net savings for California taxpayers when weighed against costs for rebuilding I-80 to carry 1.5 million additional round trips annually.