Mike is going by the daily ridership stats, but people sometimes look at daily or yearly stats and forget to examine the distribution of the ridership. It may be possible for a system to carry more riders per day than it is currently, but it may not be possible for it to carry more riders per hour in a particular direction than it is during certain parts of the day. Perhaps there weren't as many people commuting into and out of town for work back then making the rush hour of yesteryear less crowded, but there were more people making the trip for other reasons like shopping at department stores, taking in entertainment, etc. so the system was more consistently busy throughout the day.
Or perhaps it was something as simple as that there was more general transportation demand on PATH in the 1920s since the Holland tunnel didn't open until 1927 and the Lincoln tunnel in the 1930s. So that could be another reason why it may have been used more by non-commuters throughout the day. Was there any drop in riderhip after the tunnels opened?
__________________
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw
Don't ask people not to debate a topic. Just stop making debatable assertions. Problem solved.
|