US-Canada traffic continues weak - down 7% on last year

September traffic at the US-Canadian toll crossings continued to be weak at 2,947k this year v 3169k in 2008-09  - a 7% drop - and 3473k in 2007-09. This September was down 16.7% on the 3537k of 2006-09.  The high value, high toll trucks are down more than cars this September being 10.3% fewer at 565k v 630k last September. Cars are off 6.2% at 2364k v 2520k last Sept.

The only way to put a good face on the numbers is to note that the last few months have seen some deceleration in the decline. The drop on a year ago is less than it was previously.

September year-to-date (first 9 months of the year) is down much more: from 29.1m to 24.8m, nearly 15%, comprising a drop in truck traffic of 21.8% and of car traffic 13.2%, buses and miscellaneous 13%.

The largest crossing, Ambassador Bridge, Detroit-Windsor is only down 2% Sept 2009 over Sept 2008.  Trucks are still down sharply 221k v 247k last Sept but cars are running higher than a year ago by nearly 4%.

Blue Water Bridge upriver follows a similar pattern - down to 401k this Sept v 418k last Sept, 4% down, with cars down 2.5% and trucks down 7%. For the first 9 months the numbers are total down 12.7%, cars down 9% and trucks down 20.4%.

Detroit-Windsor Tunnel however is somewhat worse in the month of September (19.2% down) than year-to-date (15.3%).  That's mainly locals and and it's mostly cars. Only a dozen or so custom designed trucks can use the tunnel.

Peace Bridge very peaceful

The second biggest crossing Peace Bridge at Buffalo NY is down 2% from 537k 200809 to 525k 200909. Again cars are a tad up but truck numbers are nearly 13% off.  But the year-to-date stats are worse - off 8.6% all vehicles, 6.7% down for cars and 16% down for trucks. We traveled it a week ago and had the whole length of the bridge entirely to ourselves, although the border officials still managed to make queues on the other side.

The competing Queenston-Lewiston bridge is off 4.1% total, 8.2% for trucks, 2.9% cars. . The year-to-date drops are 17.4% trucks, 12.% cars, 13.2% total.

Rainbow Bridge in Niagara, is tourists and locals and it is also down but not as drastically as the other crossings - 5.5% Sept/Sept and 10.5% Jan-Sept/Jan-Sept.

The full spreadsheet from the Public Border Operators Association is here:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/PBOA200909.xls

TOLLROADSnews 2009-10-18