Does transit work? A conservative reappraisal

767995PDFResearch Paperhttp://ntl.bts.gov/lib/9000/9300/9361/059_Conservatives_2.pdfPublic transitCommutingLight rail transitBus transitQuality of serviceLevel of serviceCompetitionChicago (Illinois)San Diego (California)St. Louis (Missouri)American Public Transit AssociationWeyrich, Paul M.Lind, William S.Free Congress Research and Education FoundationNTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-Advanced Public Transit SystemsNTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-Rail TransitNTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-Transit Economics and FinancesNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-Transit Planning and PolicyNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-Travel DemandUS Transportation CollectionThe American people need a dependable and affordable means to get to work and back each day; roughly half of all Americans have any transit available to them and a still smaller number have the high quality transit available that would be utilized versus an automobile. One of the principal arguments against mass transit is the "one percent argument" -- the assertion that transit carries only about one percent of total trips. But this paper argues that the central problem is not the answer but the question. Total trips is a poor yardstick with which to measure the effectiveness of public transit. Instead, the authors propose a new measurement: transit competitive trips. If we ask what percentage transit carries of the trips for which it can compete, we get a very different picture, one that accords much more closely with the real importance of mass transit in urban areas. The study goes on to apply this new measurement to three transit systems, each of which represents high quality transit: Chicago's Metra commuter rail system and the Light Rail systems in San Diego and St. Louis. In each case, the system does far better than the transit critics suggest