PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: SOLVING THE COMMUTING PROBLEM? (DISCUSSION)

In this paper journey-to-work data from the 1980 census are used to provide a perspective on how well public transportation is coping with the increasing spatial complexity of metropolitan communities. The data show that about 6 percent of all workers in the United States used some form of public transportation to commute to work. Most commuter use of public transit occurred in the Northeast. Transit use among workers was lowest in the South. About 67 percent of all workers who used public transportation lived in the central city of a metropolitan area. The number of workers who use public transportation to commute to work in the United States dropped by about 487,000 between 1970 and 1980-a decline of approximately 7 percent. Significant declines in transit use occurred in each region except the West. The Northeast experienced the most drastic decline-about 596,000 workers or 17 percent. In contrast, about 378,000 more workers used public transportation in the West in 1980 than in 1970, an increase of 67 percent. The decline in commuter use of public transportation is closely associated with the movement of people and jobs to places where public transportation is not available or easily accessible. The continued shift of the population from the North to the South and West means that the public transportation market is moving from regions that have the most transit service to regions that have the least. Furthermore, the nonmetropolitan sector of the country, where public transit is virtually nonexistent, is growing faster than metropolitan areas. Finally, in recent years within metropolitan areas, the suburbs have far surpassed the central cities in population growth, Many large central cities, where transit is concentrated, have experienced losses of population. In addition, increasing suburbanization of employment and population has resulted in a predominance of lateral commuting in large metropolitan areas-intersuburban work trips for which public transportation is not well acclimated.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1983/928/928-001.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=PUBLIC+TRANSPORTATION%3A+SOLVING+THE+COMMUTING+PROBLEM%3F+(DISCUSSION)&author=P.+Fulton&publication_year=1983
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Transportation Information Systems and Data Requirements. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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  Transportation Research Board

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• Authors:
  • Fulton, Philip N
• Discussers:
  • Markowitz, Joel
• Publication Date: 1983

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-10
• Monograph Title: IMPROVING THE QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY OF TRANSPORTATION DATA
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 928
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile ownership; Census; Commuting; Demographics; Metropolitan areas; Modal split; Population movements; Public transit; Ridership; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Urban sprawl
• Old TRIS Terms: Standard metropolitan statistical area
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00386402
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309036186
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jun 28 1984 12:00AM