[emathias]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Rideshare is a complete cop-out Does it effect transit ridership? Yes but that is true of every advanced economy in the world yet somehow other countries are still seeing climbing ridership. The most obvious comparison for the US is Canada and yet Canada has seen continually rising ridership as the US steadly declines.

Other countries are more likely to tightly regulate rideshare and many of the old European capitals were already traffic-bound before Uber and Lyft appeared on the scene and so some level of additional regulation and transit that is faster than cars or far cheaper for the distance required is going to remain a clear winner. Central European capitals continue to be very popular and continue to have very efficient transit and very inefficient automobile travel in the central areas. Manhattan is the closest thing we have to a large European capital in the US, so it makes sense that its subways would maintain its appeal. I think it dipped not mainly due to Uber/Lyft but because the subway had fallen into such a horrid state. To the extent that New York gets its system back into shape, ridership will continue to rise as inconveniences like stalled trains and infrequent off-hours service to accommodate track work get addressed and ironed out.