Ridership increases: the transit dependent vs. those with transit choice

Today's USA Today has a story about the rise in transit use--highest ridership since the 1950s--"Public transit use hits record."

I've ridden buses in many places, and for the most part--not in places like Manhattan--riders are transit dependent, meaning that they are lower income and don't have cars or it is difficult to use cars to get to work. (Manhattan residents, and inner-city higher income residents elsewhere may be transit dependent because of choice, including the logistical difficulty of parking and the ability to easily get around and do things by walking and transit.)

The greatest potential for growth is in mode shift on the part of those with cars. And this is what will lead to improvements in air quality and reduced congestion and seeming increases in road capacity (by reducing the overall number of cars driven during peak use periods).

For the most part, people with transit choice want a comfortable, relatively fast ride.

That means heavy rail (subway), light rail, and streetcars over buses. Maybe bus rapid transit, but to make it fast it has to be separated from regular transit, and it's difficult to do this and locate lines that are connected to, rather than apart from, neighborhoods--where the riders are.

I think there is room to grow bus ridership, in large part by massive guerrilla marketing programs to help make people comfortable and familiar with bus riding.

E.g., how to make bus riding cool and trendy for teenagers, thereby shaping their attitudes towards transit as adults.

Right now, school buses are "loser cruisers" and therefore, so is much of transit.

And the average community can't muster the political and economic will to bring back forms of rail-based transit such as streetcars.

Tough problems to solve.

From the article:

•Salt Lake City. The number of trips taken on Salt Lake City's light rail rose 14% in 2006 to a record. The rising demand led the Utah Transit Authority to buy 29 used rail cars from San Jose, Calif. Officials haven't had time even to paint the new cars that have gone into service. Instead, they plastered stickers over the old labeling to get the cars on the rails as soon as possible.
"They're not pretty," spokesman Justin Jones says. But "it's a ride and people don't mind."
•Washington. Ridership on Metrorail in the nation's capital rose 5.3% to a record in the 2006 fiscal year, which ended June 30. The transit system is buying new cars to meet passenger demand.
•San Francisco. The number of trips on the Bay Area Rapid Transit train system also rose to a record last year. BART also has been increasing the number of cars, lengthening trains in the system.
•Tulsa. Ridership rose 17% on local buses and 43% on park-and-ride bus service last year. Tulsa Transit has added a bus on one route and is considering adding a commuter rail line, spokeswoman Cynthia Staab says.