Who produced the ridership forecasts and how were they developed?
Investment quality forecasts of ridership and revenue for the high-speed train system were developed for the Bay Area to Central Valley Program EIR/S by Cambridge Systematics (CS), a nationally respected transportation economics and forecasting specialist, over a period of two years (2006-7) through an independent $2 million contract funded and managed by the Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). The Authority partnered with the MTC, providing the basic inputs on high-speed train operations and fares. Cambridge Systematics (CS) prepared a detailed (4,667-zone) model of Californias current and future population, employment, household characteristics, highway network, air and rail services, and transit systems following current best practices and methodology. CS conducted over 3,170 state-of-the-art surveys with California travelers about recent trips and their valuations of travel time, cost, and reliability and combined that information with data from 3,700 similar rec
