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Transit Ridership Public transit offers many benefits. It is one of the safest ways of traveling, relieves road congestion, and reduces air pollution. To achieve these benefits, transit must be convenient and cost-efficient. The Federal transit investment combined with State and private sector funds enable this means of transportation. Performance Goal: Increase transit ridership to improve urban and rural mobility, and reduce traffic congestion by keeping the average yearly increase in ridership at least 2%, averaged across all transit markets, and adjusted for employment levels. Performance measures: Average yearly percent change in transit passenger-miles traveled per transit market, adjusted for employment levels. Target: 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 N/A N/A N/A 3.5 2.0 2.0 Actual: 5.0 5.0 4.3 N/A Note on data: In FY 2002, DOT changed the measure of transit ridership from the change in total passenger miles traveled to the average change in passenger miles traveled per market. The previous performance measure placed undue emphasis on increasing ridership in the nation’s very largest urban areas. The FY 2002 measure improved this by focusing more attention on increasing transit ridership in every community. After a year of experience, DOT has concluded that weighting the new measure for employment levels in each transit market allows DOT to better account for the impact of economic conditions on transit use. A recent study by San Jose State University’s Mineta Transportation Institute found that change in employment is a key economic factor associated with change in transit ridership. This finding is consistent with the fact that approximately one-half of transit riders are traveling to and from work. Employment levels also reflect the financial capacity of local governments to support transit service levels and keep fares stable. An increase in the average transit ridership per market, adjusted for changes in employment, represents an increase in transit’s share of the personal travel market. External Factors: Communities are spreading farther away from central cities, and jobs are increasingly located in the suburbs. This creates longer commutes and more scattered travel patterns. Rural areas and small communities are shifting from an agricultural to a service and manufacturing economy, creating a demand for public transportation. Strategies and Initiatives to Achieve 2004 Target: DOT resources attributable to this performance goal are depicted below: FTA: ▪ provides grants to States and localities to develop new transit systems and extend existing systems, ▪ provides transportation planning assistance to ensure that public transit systems are accessible, convenient, and well managed; ▪ funds research and deployment of transit technologies, which increase the reliability of transit, reduce trip time, and improve connectivity between modes; and innovative technologies such as fuel cells, hybrid electric buses, and alternative fuels that are less polluting than diesel fuels; ▪ supports development, deployment and dissemination of information on the bus rapid transit (BRT) technologies, which may reduce travel time and offer low capital cost alternatives to heavy and light rail transit service; and ▪ supports training for transit agency employees responsible for planning, designing, building, operating and maintaining transit systems. FTA also works to improve the safety of public transit. All of these efforts implemented in various combinations by the State and local transit agencies stimulate urban and inter-urban mobility through increased transit ridership. This has spin-off benefits in reducing congestion and mobile source pollutant emissions. In 2004, FTA will: ▪ invest in transit infrastructure to create new transit services, make transit available to more people in both urbanized and rural areas, and improve the condition of current transit services; ▪ provide funds to Metropolitan Planning Organizations and State DOTs for planning activities to ensure that new transit services are accessible, convenient, and well managed; ▪ conduct research and demonstrations of technology to improve rail communications systems, innovations in transit operation to improve mobility management and fleet management; and ▪ provide funds to the National Transit Institute to deliver approximately 180 training courses in Safety and Security, Multimodal Transportation Planning, Advanced Technologies, and Management Development. FTA supplementary performance measures: Passenger-miles traveled (in billions) by transit. Target: 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 --- 40.56 44.8 47.5 48.0 48.8 Actual: 43.3 45.1 46.3 47.1# Average condition of motor bus fleet (on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)). Target: 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 N/A 3.15 3.20 3.25 3.20 3.24 Actual: 3.13 3.07(r) 3.11(r) N/A Average condition of rail vehicle fleet (on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)). Target: 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 N/A 3.19 3.24 3.29 3.55 3.55 Actual: 3.14 3.55(r) 3.58(r) N/A Other Federal Programs with Common Outcomes: DOT coordinates transportation, housing, economic development and environmental programs with several other Federal agencies. DOT and the Department of Health and Human Services jointly encourage local Medicare agencies to use regularly scheduled transit service for medical appointments in lieu of more expensive, specialized transportation. DOT and the Environmental Protection Agency jointly promote the Commuter Choice initiative that mitigates congestion and encourages transit use, and implement joint transportation planning and environmental guidance.
Last updated 02/03/02 |
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