High Housing Costs Driving Down Transit Ridership in LA

In a piece for CalMatters, Ben Christopher explains how the housing crisis is intertwined with the crisis facing public transit agencies, using Los Angeles as an example.

As neighborhoods gentrified and median incomes increased, Christopher explains, fewer residents rode the bus. This means lower revenues that harm the entire system and lead to service cuts.

According to a study led by UCLA professor Michael Manville, frequent transit users displaced from gentrifying neighborhoods are likely to end up in areas with fewer transit options. “Fewer transportation options have been found to put a person at risk of higher unemployment, poorer health and more pronounced social isolation.”

The “suburbanization of poverty” is having similar impacts in other parts of the country, where people displaced from dense urban areas are forced to move to more car-dependent suburbs. 

State legislators are attempting to address the conjoined crises through bills such as SB 79, which would permit denser housing construction near transit. However, critics of the bill say it does not include enough safeguards for affordability.