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DART First State, operated by the Delaware Transit Corporation (DTC), announced record-breaking ridership this summer on its Resort Transit service, including a huge increase in popularity of the Rehoboth Beach Park-and-Ride. The agency has operated the summer service annually since 1990, but this year’s ridership is almost 30 percent higher than the previous record holder, 2008.

The resort buses provided 29,560 riders during the first week of August, as of Aug. 5—24.1 percent more than the same week in 2009. A route that serves the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk has accommodated 158,200 passengers so far this year, a 36.5 percent increase over the same period last year, and ridership on the Wilmington to Rehoboth Beach Connection is up almost 40 percent compared with last year.

According to DART First State, employees of Rehoboth businesses and public agencies receive a discounted parking fee, which accounts for the growth in park-and-ride usage. As of July 17, 9,133 Rehoboth Beach employees were using the lot compared to 6,304 last year during the same time frame—a 44.9 percent increase. The number of full-paying customers at the lot increased almost 27 percent, from 4,024 in 2009 to 5,106 this year.

DTC cited its outreach campaign to beach area employers—one element of a synergistic media effort—as one reason why more of their employees used the park-and-ride lot. The corporation’s marketing department sent letters to 733 employers about the employee discounted park-and-ride program. Other elements of the resort transit marketing effort included print ads in two beach area newspapers, radio ads on six of the state’s major radio stations, and restroom display ads at 20 restaurant locations in the beach area.

DTC marketing staff also spent a week in the beach region, distributing 26,100 resort schedules to more than 1,000 resort area businesses, and posted advertising board at major shopping malls and movie theaters. The promotion extended to DART Rider E-Mail Notices, a special information and schedule page on DartFirstState.com, and on DTC’s Weatherline reporting service serving New Castle County.

“This is more evidence of how transit works well for the public and the effectiveness of well-planned park-and-ride lots,” said DTC Executive Director Stephen Kingsberry. “We’re pleased to provide families and beach visitors with a low-cost, safe, and comfortable way to experience all the beach area has to offer. We are also pleased to welcome more bicyclists on our resort buses.”

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