Last year in the United States 10.7 billion rides on public transport were taken. That’s the highest number in a single year since 1956, according to the American Public Transportation Association.
It seems that people are using cars less than they used to. In fact, public transport ridership is up 37.2% since 1995, ahead of population growth, which is up 20.3 percent over the same period.
And in case you were wondering, the claim that public transport my be up because of the difficult economic conditions in recent years just doesn’t add up. The APTA says that ridership has actually increased as the economy has started to recover, because more people are employed, and work commutes account for nearly 60% of public transport ridership.
Drilling down into the stats reveals that a few cities even had double digit increases:Â New Orleans (28.9%), Denver (14.9%), and San Diego (10.4%). Take a bow if you live in one of those places and you’ve started to use public transport more often.
Early last year we reported that Americans have been driving fewer miles every year. This is further evidence that people are indeed driving less, and using public transport more in the United States.
Image CC licensed by Phil Sexton: light rail in Phoenix.
Via APTA Â Treehugger
94 comments… add one