As Milwaukee's streetcar celebrates a million (free) rides this weekend, a breakdown of the numbers shows how astonishingly small they really are.
"After launching passenger service on Nov. 2, 2018, with a projected daily ridership of around 1,800, The Hop welcomed 802,541 riders during the first year of service (2,205 rides per day)," FOX 6 reported on Thursday. "Heading into February 2020, the total stood at 967,257. The system is projected to hit the 1 million rider mark on Friday, Feb. 21."
On Friday, The Hop will have been operational for 477 days. With one million total rides, that averages out to just 2,096 rides per day. By contrast, the Milwaukee County Transit Service notes that 100,000 people ride county buses each day. Even more embarrassing for The Hop--which remains a free service--more than 3,500 people per day ride electric scooters from various scooter-sharing services.
Dan O'Donnell discussed this on Thursday's show. Click on the player below to listen and be sure to click here to subscribe to "The Dan O'Donnell Show" so you don't miss a single minute!