Transit
Streetsblog Basics
Why Is Transit Ridership Falling?
Transit ridership took a turn for the worse in 2016. In all but a handful of cities, fewer people rode trains and buses, and it’s not just a one-year blip, either. In many American cities, the drop in transit ridership is an established trend. The big question is why.
March 20, 2017
Think of Trump’s Budget as an Attack on Cities
Yesterday Donald Trump released a budget outline that calls for severe cuts to transit. The budget threatens dozens of transit projects cities have been planning for years and which, in many cases, voters have approved by large margins. Meanwhile, no such cuts are planned for federal highway funding.
March 17, 2017
Trump’s Budget Takes an Axe to Transit
The Trump administration has released its budget blueprint, and it's a bloodbath for everything that's not defense spending. In keeping with the budget's general hostility to cities, transit would be hit especially hard.
March 16, 2017
Columbus May Offer Free Transit Passes to All Downtown Workers
For the last year and a half, Columbus's Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District has been piloting a free transit pass program for 844 downtown workers. The share of workers in the program who commute via transit increased from 6 percent to 12 percent, and now it might be expanded to all 40,000 workers downtown.
March 13, 2017
Atlanta’s Streetcar Investment Is Not Paying Off
Unable to assemble new funding from the state to significantly improve the rapid transit system, the city of Atlanta chose to focus on a cheaper-to-implement streetcar line. But more than two years after launch, ridership on the streetcar is falling far short of expectations.
March 9, 2017
Why Cities Are Starting to Decriminalize Fare Evasion
With renewed public attention on the excessive criminalization of poor people and people of color, some transit agencies and law enforcement officials are reevaluating their fare evasion policies.
March 8, 2017
A Fixation on Parking Threatens Transit Progress in Atlanta
Darin Givens is frustrated with how Atlanta is planning for the future. “We don’t feel like the city is building transit that fits needs, or places that fit transit,” says the founder of local advocacy site Thread ATL. “You see nodes of density nowhere near a MARTA station or a regular MARTA bus. We’re not matching development and transit.”
March 2, 2017
65 Albany Legislators Are Fighting Cuomo’s $65 Million Transit Funding Cut
Governor Cuomo's proposed budget slashes $65 million from the state's general fund contribution to the MTA, breaking a promise he made five years ago. Now a bipartisan group of 65 Albany legislators are calling for those funds to be restored in the final budget.
February 27, 2017
Transit Ridership Falling Everywhere — But Not in Cities With Redesigned Bus Networks
Transit ridership decreased in almost every major American city last year. But there were two notable exceptions -- Seattle and Houston. Those two outliers share one thing in common: In addition to expanding light rail, they're both redesigning their bus networks.
February 24, 2017
In Atlanta, Transit Service Lags Behind a Booming Population
Since 2000, the Atlanta region has grown by more than 1.5 million people, or over 25 percent, but transit service is not keeping up. Both rail and bus ridership on MARTA, the major regional transit provider, have fallen dramatically in recent years.
February 23, 2017
