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42 2015 Central Mass By The Numbers • Worcester Business Journal www.wbjournal.com Tourism & Transportation L et's start with hotels. Looking only at the Worcester numbers, you'd think that the picture is good. The Worcester hospitality market had a material change in 2010 when the Crowne Plaza hotel closed, taking its 243 rooms off the hotel-room market when it was purchased by the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Services (now MCPHS University) for use as dormitory rooms. Approximately 25 percent of the total hotel room supply went off the market in one swoop. Paul Sacco, head of the Massachusetts Lodging Association, notes that at 2009, just at the end of the economic downturn, Worcester County had much lower lodging numbers, and therefore, more upside than the Boston region. Additionally, Worcester County was more dependent on business travel (as opposed to tourism) than most other Massachusetts counties, as well has having more winter activities. Occupancy rates are not impacted by the growth in the number of rooms, Sacco said, but occupancy rates do influence revenue growth as reflected in the aver- age daily room rate (ADR). Worcester County's ADR trails that of Boston and the state as a whole. With 360 new hotel rooms coming online in Worcester in the next year, the deficit created by the loss of the Crowne Plaza will ease. On the transportation side, we've seen an increase in the use of commuter rail, most markedly the Worcester line, from 2009 to 2013, a result of the improving economy and job growth in the Greater Boston region. The Worcester stop at Union Station saw the most average weekday boardings in 2013; that year's headcount of 1,475 represents a 54-percent increase from the 954 headcount in 2009. The MBTA will add some nonstop service runs between Worcester and Boston this coming May, cutting up to 30 minutes off a one-way trip. Highest use of commuter rail by working-age popu- lation can be found in the town of Franklin, where 9 percent of the workforce takes the train. Interestingly, there is little spillover to the contiguous town of Bellingham, where only 2.8 percent of the workforce does. The same phenomenon exists on the Worcester line; 8.5 percent of the Natick workforce takes the train, whereas only 3.7 percent of Framingham's workforce does. The many employment opportunities that exist in Framingham and Natick are more reach- able by car; the same can be said of the Westborough and Grafton commuter rail stations on the Worcester line. The Fitchburg line tends to fill up the closer it gets to Boston, with Shirley and Acton being 5.4 and 5.3 percent respectively. Ridership in the Worcester area has increased in eight of the 12 months of the year between 2011 and 2014, with September being the busiest month and January the least, according to the Worcester Regional Transit Authority. This usage would seem to tie into the academic schedules of the region's many colleges and universities. That brings us to gas prices, which have plunged since January 2014. In October 2015, a gallon of self- serve cost $2.14. A national report by J. P. Morgan Chase Institute, released in October 2015, examines 57 million anonymized credit and debit card transac- tions and created a composite of 25 million people. The report cites government projections that that the average household stands to save $700 a year on fuel this year. It also says consumers are spending 80 per- cent of those savings on categories other than gas. The gains in discretionary spending favorably impact the young and the lower-income strata, who experienced the equivalent of a 1.6-percent increase in income. n By Christina P. O'Neill Special to the Worcester Business Journal Hotel, transportation industries seeing uptick QUICK HITS Sources: STR Inc., MBTA, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2009-2013, AAA Southern New England Worcester hotel occupancy rate in September: 82.1 % Worcester average daily room rate in September: $133.61 Average weekday commuter boardings in Worcester, the region's most-used station: 1,475 Percent of the Franklin working-age population using public transportation, the highest in Central Mass.: 9% One-way commute time in Petersham, the longest in the region: 41.8 Percent decrease in gas prices in Worcester County from January 2014 to October 2015: 38.3% Franklin 9.0% Natick 8.5% Hopkinton 6.2% Shirley 5.4% Acton 5.3% Ashland 4.0% Ayer 4.0% Framingham 3.7% Worcester 3.7% Wayland 3.5% Mendon 3.3% Medway 3.2% Southborough 3.2% Westborough 3.2% Sudbury 3.0% Bellingham 2.8% Holliston 2.8% Littleton 2.8% Northborough 2.8% Boylston 2.7% Grafton 2.5% Boxborough 2.3% Bolton 2.2% Fitchburg 2.1% Stow 2.1% Milford 2.0% Millis 1.9% Sherborn 1.9% Harvard 1.8% East Brookfield 1.6% Leominster 1.6% Petersham 1.6% Groton 1.5% Hopedale 1.4% Maynard 1.4% Millbury 1.4% Shrewsbury 1.4% Sutton 1.4% Marlborough 1.3% Westminster 1.3% Paxton 1.2% Ashburnham 1.1% Princeton 1.1% Sterling 1.1% Berlin 1.0% Blackstone 1.0% Templeton 1.0% Upton 1.0% Lancaster 0.9% Pepperell 0.9% Spencer 0.9% Leicester 0.8% Lunenburg 0.8% Hudson 0.7% Oxford 0.7% Auburn 0.6% Douglas 0.6% Oakham 0.6% Phillipston 0.6% Southbridge 0.6% Townsend 0.6% Athol 0.5% Holden 0.5% Hubbardston 0.5% Uxbridge 0.5% Charlton 0.4% Dudley 0.4% Millville 0.3% Rutland 0.3% West Boylston 0.3% Winchendon 0.3% Gardner 0.2% Sturbridge 0.2% Webster 0.2% Brookfield 0.1% Clinton 0.1% North Brookfield 0.1% Ashby 0.0% Barre 0.0% Hardwick 0.0% New Braintree 0.0% Northbridge 0.0% Royalston 0.0% Warren 0.0% West Brookfield 0.0% Highest use of public transit Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2009-2013 American Community Survey, five-year estimates Note: Workers are age 16 and older. From 2009 to 2013, Franklin and Natick, both of which host commuter rail stations, had the highest percentage of their working-age populations using public transportation in Central Massachusetts.