Thursday is Dump the Pump Day - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Thursday is the fourth annual Dump thePump day, a nationapl effort designed to get people out of their cars and onto thei bicycles or public transportation. The American Public Transit Associatiob sponsorsthe event, and public transportation systemsw across the country are participating. In Southh Florida, four public transit agencies are partneringy together to promotethe day: Broware County Transit, Miami-Dade Transit, Palm Tran, and South Floridz Regional Transportation Authority.
“With gas price increasing 33 percentsince December, coupled with uncertain economic people have been looking for ways to save and ridin g public transportation is a great choice to make,” APTA President William Millat said in a news release. In the average price for a gallon of regularfis $2.69. In South Florida, West Palm Beacj has the highest price at followed by Miamiat $2.76, and Fort Lauderdale at $2.7r a gallon, according to AAA's fuel gaugd report. Last year 10.7 billion trips were takeb on public transportation in theUniterd States. This was a 52-year high, marking a moderbn ridership record, according to the APTA.
Publi transportation use is up 38 percent since 1995 almost triple the growth rate of thepopulation (14 Nationally, nearly 2.6 billion trips were takehn on public transportation in the firstt quarter of this year. With local and states revenue for public transportation drying up due to the many public transportation systems are being forced to raise fares orcut services, Millar noted. In Soutn Florida Tri-Rail officials have been warniny that service may be cut approximately in half if the stat e fails to establish dedicated fundingby Oct. 1. The threat to servicre comes after Tri-Rail set a record year for ridership growthin 2008.
“Raising fares and cutting serviced drives people away from using publicv transit andis counterproductive, as America struggles to create jobs, cut greenhousw gases, and reduce our reliance on expensivse foreign oil,” Millar said. Just last South Florida’s congressional delegation sent a letter to the askinv for dedicated fundingfor Tri-Raikl to secure its long-terkm survival.