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Public Transit Ridership in the United States

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Over the past several decades much has been written about public transit development and use in the U.S.  The APTA Public Transit Fact Book has some insightful statistics. Here are some that I found interesting.  Between 2011 and 1990 public transit ridership increased 16.2 per cent. The greatest year over year increase (7.3 per cent) occurred from 1997 to 1998; the smallest increase was between 1993 and 1994.  The greatest year over year decrease was -6.6 per cent from 1995 to 1996. With the exception of 1995 - 1996, ridership has tended to increase moderately when the economy has been growing and decrease during recessions.  Between 2008 and 2010 ridership declined approximately 4 per cent. In 1990 27 per cent of passengers rode heavy rail, 1.6 per cent light rail, 3.7 per cent commuter rail, 64.1 per cent bus and 1.2 per cent demand response systems.  By 2011 the mix was 35.1 per cent heavy rail, 4.7 per cent light rail, 4.5 per cent commuter rail, 1 per cent trolly-bus (down from 1.5 per cent in 1993), 50.9 per cent bus, and 1.9 per cent demand response. Heavy rail includes Chicago Transit Authority, New York City MTA, San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit, etc. Light rail includes Dallas Area Rapid Transit, San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, etc.  Commuter rail includes Austin's Capitol Metro, Long Island Railroad, etc. Amtrak's commuter operations are not included in the numbers. Of course ridership numbers are not uniform across the United States.  Public transit plays a larger role in major metropolitan areas than it does in smaller communities and rural areas. In addition, it plays a larger role in those cities that expanded along established rail lines, i.e. New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, as opposed to cities that have grown out along highways, i.e. Dallas, Houston, Tucson, etc.   Over the same period of time the population of the United States increased from from 249.6 million to 311.6 million or 24.8 per cent. Thus, for the nation as a whole, the increase in transit ridership has not kept pace with the increase in the population.   The arguments for investing in public transit include reductions in traffic congestion (time and money), pollution (health and clean-up), property damage (vehicle collisions), injuries (vehicle collisions and pedestrians), as well as better options for the mobility impaired (age, disease, income, etc.). The arguments against expanded investments in public transit include the capital and operatings costs, especially for heavy and light rail; inaccessibility and inconvenience for most of the population, and the fact that people will not use it if they have a choice. Your thoughts!
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