Public Transit Ridership Down and We Know Why (Sort Of)
A New York Times Blog recently posted that public transit ridership declined by 3.8% during the first nine months of 2009. Not surprising given the lower gas prices and unemployment stats for 2009. The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority experienced similar declines during that time. Also of note is that transit ridership in San Francisco actually increased during this time.
One thing the blog post doesn’t consider is the change in automobile use during this time. Were people also driving less because they didn’t have the money to go shopping etc? Or maybe people were driving more because gas is cheap. I am sure this stat is out there somewhere.
It would also be interesting to consider who stopped taking the bus. Did people who always take the bus simply take the bus less? Or did people who could choose between driving or busing choose to drive? It’s not as if all transit riders are the same. It would be very interesting to delve into this data as well.
For a somewhat basic breakdown of this concept, in the APTA report, it appears that ridership on Commuter Rail and Buses declined about 5% while ridership on Heavy Rail and Light Rail declined to a lesser degree (about 3% and 1% respectively) . Trolley ridership actually increased by .6% It would be interesting to see why the declines are different. Any thoughts?
So I guess the take home lesson in all of this (which we’ve known here at the getDowntown Program for a while now) is that cost matters when it comes to transportation choices. Most people will be more likely to change their commuting behavior when it starts to hit their pocketbook. People are also more likely to change their commuting behavior when they live closer to where they work (within 4 miles or so).
As we enter a New Year and continue to have debates surrounding healthcare and global warming, how does transportation (and commuting in particular) fit into this picture? What would our world look like if more people in Ann Arbor (and the US) used sustainable transportation? What problems would this solve (or create)?