Making Room for Public Transit

A report authored by Transportation for America and the American Public Transportation Association suggests that, no less than Social Security and Medicare, retiring baby boomers will have to cope with limited mobility options.

1 minute read

June 18, 2011, 7:00 AM PDT

By Jeff Jamawat

But this alone does not justify the agencies' plea for more funding, argues The Antiplanner:

"After decades of huge transit subsidies, per capita transit ridership today is no greater than it was in 1970–mainly because the subsidies have focused on extending transit service to those who don't need it rather than providing better service to those who do."

The solution, according to O'Toole? Spend more on increasing the current level of service in the central city areas where the demand for transit is consistently high instead of extending the routes en masse to the suburbs where public transit ridership is low.

Transportation for America has a blistering critique of O'Toole's analysis of their study, basically explaining that the report does not say what O'Toole claims it says.

FULL STORY: The Myth of the Senior Transit Rider

Thursday, June 16, 2011 in The Antiplanner

Infrastructure Transportation United States Transportation Funding Public Transortation Randal O'Toole View More

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