As gas prices rise, riders go public

The price of gasoline is not the only thing on the rise. So is ridership on the MBTA.

"We are on track to set a new record for yearly ridership for the fiscal year that ends on June 30," T spokesman Joe Pesaturo said last week.

Numbers released by the T earlier this month show a 5.5 percent increase in riders in April over the same month last year. And the average number of weekday passenger trips is up 6.1 percent overall for the first four months of 2008, compared with 2007.

Ridership is up on subway, rail, bus, and boat, with the largest increases in bus and subway numbers.

The total number of average weekday passenger trips in all modes of T transportation jumped by nearly 70,000 trips to 1.337 million in April compared to the same month last year.

The record number of riders in a year was set in 2001: 354,162,000.

Ridership is not the only number that is up. "The 10,000th person recently subscribed to T Alerts," said Pesaturo.

Launched about six months ago, T Alerts provide customers with service announcements such as delays and closures sent directly to their cellphones, PDAs, or e-mail accounts.

"The majority are riders on commuter rail," said Pesaturo.

And, speaking of commuter rail, the MBTA board of directors has awarded a $1.2 million contract for the design of a new Rockport Station.

About 7,300 commuters travel on the Rockport line each weekday, with 474 boarding at Rockport station. Rockport service includes 26 weekday commuter trains and several trains lay over at the station overnight.

The new station will have a new shelter and ramps for the platform, a layover facility with a sound mitigation system, an automated fare collection system, and parking for 150 vehicles, about twice the number of spaces now available.

Design work is supposed to be completed by winter 2009, when a contract for the construction of the work will be put out for bid.

Sunday is Father's Day and Granite Staters know what that means: the beginning of motorcycle week in Laconia and the rumble of rolling thunder on local highways and interstates as tens of thousands of motorcyclists converge on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Laws are on the books in the Granite State and Massachusetts that limit the noise levels of motorcycles, but they are rarely enforced, except in Milford, N.H., where Police Chief Frederick Douglas has begun a crackdown.

"It's illegal, it's annoying, and we're going to do something about it," Douglas said earlier this month.

Douglas said there are two laws in New Hampshire that limit the noise motorcycles can produce. One makes it illegal to install "straight pipes" without mufflers and the other limits the amount of noise the machines may generate to 106 decibels.

He said detecting a straight pipe is easy. "All you need is a flashlight. I'm a former car mechanic and I've taught all my officers how to detect them." And just to make sure people know, there are two electronic signs on major thoroughfares in town warning travelers that straight pipes are against the law.

Penalties range from a $100 fine for a first offense to a $500 fine for a third offense in a year.

Douglas won't say how many motorcycles the department has pulled over during the crackdown that began a few weeks ago. "We've written some tickets and we've pulled over a number of cycles," he said.

According to Douglas, gauging the loudness of the machines is more problematic, but at four random dates during the summer his officers will be joined by a team from State Police with a decibel meter and pull over motorcycles to test their noise level. "We're going to educate the public," he said.

The chief discounts the contention of some cyclists that the loudness of their machines is a safety issue - the noise makes motorists more aware of them. "I don't believe loud exhausts save lives," he said. "I haven't seen one study that makes that claim."

Starts & Stops appears every other Thursday in Globe North. Transportation comments and questions may be sent to starts@globe.com.