Mass-transit ridership sets record in U.S.

WASHINGTON — Americans took a record number of trips last year on subways, streetcars, commuter trains and buses as gasoline soared to more than $3 a gallon, according to a report being released Monday.

Worsening traffic on the roads also prompted more people to choose transit, and transportation agencies nationwide extended rail lines and added new bus routes last year, said Bill Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, which is releasing the report.

Last year's 2.9 percent growth in ridership compared with 2005 — to a total of 10 billion trips — was the biggest single-year jump since 1957, Millar said.

"We're seeing growth pretty much across the board in pretty much every mode," Millar said. "People are rediscovering the convenience of public transportation. For 50 years, we were told the most convenient thing to do is drive our cars."

Elderly people, who form a growing share of the U.S. population every year, are increasingly opting for public transportation, said Jeff Arndt of the Texas Transportation Institute, accounting partly for the ridership increase. Transit agencies often provide free or low-cost services to the elderly and disabled.

New immigrants also are more likely to use mass transit than native-born Americans because they can't afford their own vehicles, Arndt said.

With increasing use, the challenges for transit officials are to keep the costs down, attract new riders and find ways to keep current passengers happy enough so they continue to use the system, said transportation consultant Alan Pisarski.

Expanding mass transit often shifts riders from one mode to another without increasing the number of riders, he said. That is, bus riders may start to ride the trains if rail service is expanded, without leading to an increase in the total number of passengers.

A recent trend fueling public transportation use is real-estate development.

Increasingly, homes and offices are being built around transit stops, allowing people to give up their vehicles if they want, said Damien Newton of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit group that seeks more mass transit in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

"The largest (increases) are happening during commuting periods. You can work on a train. I see plenty of people on their Blackberries and laptops on the train. That's not something you can do in a car," he said.