Transit critic Rand O'Toole updates his 2004 Rail Disasters report to include impacts on transit ridership.
The American Dream Coalition is joining with several associated groups in releasing a new report on rail transit. Rail Disasters 2005 examines two decades worth of ridership data in nearly every U.S. urban area with rail transit and finds that ridership has declined or stagnated in nearly two out of three of them. Ridership or passenger miles have travel have kept up with driving in only three out of twenty-three rail urban areas.
By contrast, the report identifies numerous urban areas with bus-only transit whose transit ridershp has grown far faster than driving, including Austin, Las Vegas, and Raleigh-Durham. Based on this and other information, the report concludes that cities and regions that want to boost transit ridership are better off improving their bus systems than building expensive rail lines.
Thanks to Michael D. Setty
FULL STORY: Rail Disasters
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