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Public Transit Ridership in the United States

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[quote user="CMStPnP"] [quote user="Sam1"]My main point is that relatively few Americans opt for public transit when they have choices, although they do so in varying degrees depending upon where they live.[/quote] Likewise I have seen no stats that you have presented so far that backs up that point.     You don't seem to think beyond a very narrow range of statistics.    How many people are in the Dallas Light Rail system service area?     How many of those people are traveling downtown to work or work in the suburb they live?     How many cars is DART light rail taking off the road?     How is DART light rail increasing mobility? As I mentioned before..... 1. Freeway more ubiquitous and easier to acccess than mass transit 2. Freeway usually free and does not require a search for a parking place to use. 3. Freeway in many cases of non-rush hour travel via POV  is more direct and faster than mass transit with it's many stops. Make Mass Transit free,  Make Mass Transit easy to use from your garage, make sure there is plenty of parking at the mass transit station.....and watch the usage of mass transit increase. Then of course there is this, which completely blows away your ridership stats on DART light rail: http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/expect-gargantuan-jump-in-dart-light-rail-figures.html/ [/quote] Statistics are a starting point. In a previous posting I noted the number of people in the service area by community, i.e. Dallas, University Park, Highland Park, Collin County, etc.  I showed their income levels.  And I calculated the percentage of actual riders based on the potential riders for the service area.  My numbers come from authoritative sources, i.e. DART, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. DOT, TXDOT, etc.   One can draw legitimately different conclusions from the data.  But without it all one has are opinions based on limited observations.  Very limited! People don't have to be going downtown to be potential riders. In addition to the light rail lines, DART has approximately 20 to 30 cross town routes - some go all the way across town (county) whilst others just go part way, as per the DART System Service Map. You have referenced an October posting on a transportation blog that quotes an increase in August 2012 numbers due to a change in counting methodology.  One month of ridership numbers is not indicative of a trend.  Most people look at the numbers for a year and then do year over year comparisons. This morning the Dallas Morning News reported that ridership on the light rail lines is down significantly from 2007 and is flat for this year, even after the opening of the new lines and/or line extensions. But I will wait until DART publishes the 2012 figures, which are audited as part of the financial audit processes. DART's light rail, as well as the TRE, has taken relatively few cars off the road. Many riders drive to a park and ride lot to catch the train.  The Red Line north, as an example, has large parking lots - parking is free - at most of the stations beginning at Mockingbird Lane Station and continuing to Parker Road. Thus, to be accurate, one can say that DART has reduced the distance that the cars on on the road, but they have taken very few cars completely off the road.   Approximately 30  to 35 per cent of the people commuting into the CBD come by DART.  Of those traveling on DART's hosted facilities, as DART's numbers show, the HOV lanes host the greatest number of passenger trips. To dismiss an argument by saying that a presenter doesn't think beyond a very narrow range of statistics is not a valid argument, especially given the fact that you have offered no counter statistics other than to cite a blog report regarding one month of statistics that have not been independently verified.  And since it is taken out of context, it adds no insight into the percentage of the population that uses public transit, which was one of the opening questions of this thread.  Anyone who has read my postings carefully knows that my knowledge of DART extends beyond the statistics. I worked on the DART referendum campaign, was part of the citizens advisory committee during DART's formative years, and rode public transit downtown practically ever day for more than 33 years.   Make mass transit free, make mass transit easy to use from your garage. Austin and Portland, Oregon tried free transit for a short period.  The results were disastrous. You just lost me.
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