C&TSRR Ridership

I thought readers might be interested in a report on Cumbres & Toltec ridership this year as we pass the half-way mark of the season.

Last year was an extremely strong growth year for the C&TSRR, with ridership up about 20% compared to 2005. We are still growing this year, but not as fast. As of yesterday (August 11) we had carried 22,334 passengers compared to 21,104 at this point in 2006, a growth rate of 5.8%. (This is for regular trains booked through the reservation system, and doesn't count a few special trains.)

We have shown good growth in the Cinder Bear trains (up 16.4% compared to last year) and parlor car (up 17.4%). Parlor car is particularly impressive taking into account the fare increase this year. Group tour travel is also strong, running about 10% ahead of last year.

For reasons we have yet to determine, round trips (i.e. Chama-Osier and return or Antonito-Osier and return) are more popular this year. Through trips involving the bus on one leg have fallen from 66.9% of the total in 2006 to 62.7% of the total this year.

Ticket office revenues have been strong so far this year. This includes revenue for trips already taken this season, as well as revenue for advance bookings for the remainder of the season. So far these revenues are running 11.4% ahead of where they were at this point last year. This seems to indicate that advance bookings are quite strong. Whether we will make our full year goal of 13% revenue growth over 2006 has yet to be seen.

Anyone thinking of riding the C&TSRR should head this way. Recent rains have kept the hillsides green and the wildflowers in bloom. And you'll want to check out the progress on the track improvements.

Richard Tower
Secretary-Treasurer
C&TS Management Corp.