TCRP Projects: Declines in Transit Ridership: Analysis of Recent Trends

Even before COVID-19, and despite population growth and stable employment, U.S. transit ridership declined in a confounding pattern not seen in other countries. This article presents highlights from TCRP Research Report 209: Analysis of Recent Public Transit Ridership Trends and TCRP Project A-43, an ongoing project that employs a two-phase approach to consider changes at system, route, and stop levels. In Phase 1 of Project A-43 researchers determined that the four main sources of net transit ridership decline between 2012 and 2018 were: income and household characteristics changed, bus and rail travel became more expensive, driving became less expensive, and new modes competed with bus and rail. Phase 2 analyzed the change in route- and stop-level transit ridership data for a handful of cities. These case studies uncovered several key points: transit should be given priority, agencies should get creative with fare policies and prices, micromobility has limited impacts on transit ridership, and transit ridership was peaking. The article concludes with a discussion of possible longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on future transit ridership.

• Record URL:
  http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/182193.aspx
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/07386826
• Authors:
  • Watkins, Kari Edison
  • Brakewood, Candace
  • Erhardt, Greg
  • Berrebi, Simon
  • Hemily, Brendon
• Publication Date: 2021-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 32-37
• Serial:
  • TR News
  • Issue Number: 332
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0738-6826

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; COVID-19; Forecasting; Public transit; Research projects; Ridership; Trend (Statistics)
• Identifier Terms: Transit Cooperative Research Program
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01773686
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jun 3 2021 9:21AM