By Michael Brenneis, SSTI, Nimble transit planning needed during the pandemic, says Transit Center analysis Posted on July 30th, 2020 in Multimodal, News Transit agencies have experienced steep bus ridership declines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bus ridership in greater Boston dropped about 80 percent, for example. But the drop wasn’t uniform: Essential workers still needed to get to work, and many relied …
67% of essential workers using transit are non-white, according to an April TransitCenter analysis. And People of color account for less than 40% of the U.S. population, but make up 60% of transit riders, according to APTA
People of color account for less than 40% of the U.S. population, but make up 60% of transit riders, according to APTA Time Magazine, by ALEJANDRO DE LA GARZA JULY 21, 2020 While trying to get to work over the past few months, Brittany Williams, a Seattle home care worker, has often been passed by two or three buses before one stops to let …
Top transit systems in the U.S. have seen 70-90% ridership losses and have dramatically scaled back service. If you cut service by 10%, generally ridership has gone down 3-6%
Plus 2020 was primed to be the sixth consecutive year of what Taylor calls a “disturbing trend”: U.S. transit ridership has been in decline since 2014, even as transit agencies have added service on the whole. Much of that new service has come in light-rail extensions and some bus-rapid transit lines usually designed to attract “discretionary riders,” or people who …
Transit Death Spiral and What If We Give It Away? A Look at the Feasibility of Free or Cheaper CTA service
NYTimes.com July 19, 2020 Public Transit Officials Fear Virus Could Send Systems Into ‘Death Spiral’: Transit leaders are urging Congress to provide billions of dollars in aid, and warn of dire consequences if they decline. By Pranshu Verma, July 19, 2020 WASHINGTON — Jeffrey Tumlin, who leads San Francisco’s $1.3 billion transit system, is in a hard spot. Ridership on his …
Essential workers use transit to get to their jobs
T4AMERICA BLOG News, press releases and other updates 2.8 million essential workers use transit to get to their jobs 27 Mar 2020 | Posted by Emily Mangan | 7 Comments | COVID-19, transit A new report from TransitCenter finds that 2.8 million transit riders are considered “essential workers” during the COVID-19 emergency, underscoring just how essential it is to keep transit running. Under normal circumstances, they account for more …
Public transit ridership and revenues have dropped like a rock during the COVID-19 public health crisis: how can we avoid a transit death spiral?
Written by Howard Learner, May 29, 2020 Found in Crains Chicago Business Public transit ridership and revenues have dropped like a rock during the COVID-19 public health crisis. In Chicago, CTA bus and train ridership is down by 80%, and Metra commuter rail ridership is down by a staggering 97%. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, Metro Transit has 75% less riders. The same …
Half of Americans Want Drivers Who Drive More to Pay More: And people who drive big, fuel inefficient cars should pay even more
By Kea Wilson, StreetsBlog, Jul 20, 2020 Nearly half of Americans think it’s time to rethink how we fund our road infrastructure by switching from a federal gas tax — which theoretically rewards drivers for choosing greener cars, but doesn’t always deter excessive driving itself — and replacing it with a tax based on how many miles drivers actually travel, a …
Tires & Brakes Are Significant Sources of Microplastics
July 19th, 2020 by Carolyn Fortuna in Clean Technica Those minuscule particles of plastics produced by car tires and brakes can’t do much damage, right? They’re so, well, tiny, and nearly imperceptible — yet devastating. Did you know that road microplastics produce more than 200,000 tons of minute plastic particles that blow into the oceans every year? Image retrieved from CalRecycle Research titled “Atmospheric Transport …
RTD joins transit systems’ request for billions more in aid from Congress
Passengers board an RTD light-rail train at the Littleton/Mineral station on Jan. 19, 2020.WAYNE BROUSSARD | Posted Thursday, July 16, 2020 7:38 amMichael KarlikColorado Politics The Regional Transportation District was among the more than two dozen public transit agencies that sent a letter to the Republican and Democratic U.S. Senate leaders asking for $32 billion to $36 billion in additional coronavirus relief money …
Five Arguments for Making Subways Free
Now is an opportune time to think more broadly about how to fund urban rail. A fare “holiday” that was successful in attracting new riders By Lucas Davis, Berkeley, CA Lowering subway fares would save energy and make cities greener. Subway ridership has fallen sharply around the world due to COVID-19. For most of the 170+ subway systems worldwide it is going …