If you ever have a need to find ridership or any other transit data from transit properties (including your own) then you need to know about FTIS.  It stands for the Florida Transit Information System.  The Florida in the name refers to the state where the system was developed and the DOT that made it, not to the data or who may use it.  It is an easy-to-use interface of the National Transportation Database containing reported information from all 50 states and the territories and open to anyone who completes a short registration process.

To use FTIS, first, go to http://ftis.org/.  From the menu at the top of the page, choose INTDAS and then click on Enter INTDAS in the lower left column of the page.  You will need to sign up to use FTIS here, but this is very quick and easy.  Once you have a log-in, use it.

On the main INTDAS menu select the dates, states, and the modes you would like. 

This is what makes FTIS so nice and easy to use.  If you want to know which cities have light rail/streetcar (one category in NTD, regrettably) select all the states, then light rail under modes, and then the “all” button under Select Systems.  Click on systems in the lower right corner.  It will take you to another window where you need to select some variables; enter a few words into the FSV search box and click on what you want.  This could be the number of passenger trips, vehicles in maximum service, or the address of the reporting agency, whatever you want to know (if you are only interested in which transit agencies have LRT make sure to select something all agencies would report like passenger trips).  Click “Tables” at bottom right.

 From there you can simply view the data FTIS gives you, or you can save and manipulate it in Excel by clicking the Excel button at the top of the page.  One note:  if you are interested in fixed-route data don’t use the [All Individual Modes] option.  To exclude demand response, you have to select every type individually except demand response.  Enjoy!