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Originally Posted by C.
I'm not sure I accept the premise that the reason transit ridership is down is because the economy is booming and more people can afford a car.
Also, everyone I knew in NYC that commuted by car was broke. All the good paying jobs are accessible by subway. Uber/taxi is also a fraction of the cost of parking in lower Manhattan.
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That's mainly NY and a few other areas though; the bus is the backbone of most American systems and that's what's being impacted heavily (as seen with APTA data). There are plenty of articles, most often dealing with Metro LA bus ridership declines where a former bus rider gets tired of lousy service, scrimps and saves to get a car and will never go back.
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I think working from home and telecommuting is an interesting theory which may explain part of the reason why transit ridership is down. If everyone did it one day a week, that would be a massive drop in ridership.
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But I would expect that a similar impact would be felt with driving but vehicle miles continues to grow.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M12MTVUSM227NFWA