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[quote user="John WR"] [quote user="Sam1"]Most Americans don't want to ride on a train or a bus or public transit. They don't want to sit beside someone who is shouting into a cell phone, hasn't had a bath for a week, or is hung over. Given an alternative most middle class Americans, that's 85 per cent of us. don't want public transport of any sort.[/quote] Actually, in New Jersey the statistics do not bear out this allegation.  For New Jersey Transit rail ridership has quadrupled since the agency began.  For the first quarter of fiscal 2013 (July through September, 2010) bus ridership is up 4 per cent and rail ridership is up 6 per cent.  The rail ridership figure is especially significant because NJT recently imposed a 25 per cent increase on rail fares.   Having used public transit for all of my adult life I don't find conditions as bad as you do.  I don't remember when I sat next to anyone who smelled bad.  People with hangovers are not intrusive; at worst they simply doze off, something that is quite possible without a hangover.  People with cell phones can be a real pain in the neck but our trains have quiet cars.  The real cell phone problem is for people who talk while driving and increase the risk of an accident.   No doubt most Americans do commute by car.  But the times are changing.  And from what I read today the real leader in new rail transit is big "D" little "a" double "ll a s." [/quote] New Jersey is not the center of the universe.  Since we are talking about the United States, which is considerably more than the NEC, the focus should be on national numbers. The same criteria applies to Texas, much as we hate to admit it.      Be careful of what you read. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has invested more than $4.5 billion in its light rail projects.  As a result approximately three to five per cent of the Metroplex population (my calculation) uses it. In FY11 the ridership on the light rail system was 22.3 million passenger trips, and the average subsidy was $4.23 per passenger per trip.  By comparison the HOV lanes, which DART built and operates, accounted for 48 million commuter trips at an average subsidy of 22 cents per passenger.    Stating that ridership has quadrupled since agency began is meaningless.  From what?  If it started with a low base, quadrupling it is a no brainer.   The key numbers are what percentage of the residents use public transit.  And equally important, how many of them are captive riders?  The tables that I cited show that nationwide roughly five per cent of people use public transit to get to work, with a much lower percentage using it for other in-town trips.
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