Attracting Transit Ridership in the 21st Century

Let's be honest here. Who among us wanted to be seen riding the bus when we were teenagers? Although the trend is beginning to change, we as Americans have long viewed public transit as a symbol of poverty. Obtaining a driver's license, not a bus pass, has always marked the sign of adolescent arrival. Why, then, has growth in transit ridership continuously outpaced growth in vehicle-miles traveled from 1997 to the present? In the future, what can we hope to do to keep this encouraging trend intact? The purpose of this paper is to provide some answers to these questions. Nothing is more certain than the fact that people resist change. By and large, we all do today what we did yesterday and the day before that. In the context of a typical American and his or her transportation choices, this means getting in a car and driving. This is not likely to change spontaneously. For public transit to keep increasing its modal share, people will have to be given incentives to make the switch from automobiles. In the coming years, transit operators should focus their efforts in three main categories: economic, environmental, and lifestyle incentives.