The cost to transit from free parking (Minneapolis survey)

Metro Transit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, used by permission of Metro Transit.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported on the results of a local transit survey in the article "Transit survey gives picture of ridership." The results seem to indicate to me that free parking "induces" driving...

From the article:

Metro Transit reported the results of a rider survey taken in June. About 4,800 bus riders and about 800 train riders completed surveys on a range of topics. Here are some of the findings:

• Saving money on parking is the reason train riders give most often for why they ride the rail line. Nearly half of Hiawatha riders drive to a park- and-ride lot to catch the train.

• If the train were not available, 59 percent of rail riders said they would have made the trip in their cars alone.

• Among bus riders, not owning a car is the reason most often given for riding the bus.

• In a year when bus fares rose and service was cut, 15 percent of bus riders were new customers. Nearly 60 percent have ridden the bus for at least five years.

• 57 percent of train riders and 56 percent of bus riders take transit five days a week -- a reflection of the fact that most transit rides are to work.

• 38 percent of train riders have a household income of $70,000 or more; 22 percent of bus riders are equally affluent.

• Women take transit more often than men: 63 percent of bus riders and 57 percent of train riders are women. Men prefer the train: 43 percent of train riders are male compared with 37 percent on the bus.

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