During the Christmas-New Years period, the shuttle operated at roughly 5.7 passenger miles per gallon of fuel , considerably more energy usage than the average auto. During the Thanksgiving period, the shuttle operated at about 9.3 passenger miles per gallon of fuel, also more energy usage than the average auto. This comparison assumes that without the shuttle each trip would have been made by single occupant auto when, in fact, some would have been made by private airport shuttle buses. A table appears below which shows the shuttle bus energy usage as well as the other vital statistics of the shuttle-bus from Gateway to the airport. The shuttle service added to, rather than reduced, traffic congestion.
Buses have the equivalent impact on congestion as three cars.
Thus, the added congestion was the equivalent of 512 additional cars over the Thanksgiving period. Hence, the added congestion was the equivalent of 2,464 additional cars over the Christmas-New Year period. With light rail service on separate grade, there would have been a congestion improvement equivalent of 2,496 trips over 19 days or 132 trips per day, assuming that every trip made on light rail would have been by private single occupied auto. That is a reduction of eight trips per hour for the sixteen hours of light rail operation on a freeway which averages trips of more than 5,500 per hour. The negative impacts on energy and congestion are in violation of the state planning rules.