The steady decline in transit ridership, combined with the growth of driving, is revealed in passenger-mile data published by the Department of Transportation. The table below shows changes in transit’s share of motorized travel for the nation’s 25 largest urban areas. Outside of these areas, transit’s share declined by more than 10 percent in Sacramento, San Jose, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Charlotte, among many others.
| Urbanized Area | 2016 | 2017 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT | 11.6% | 11.5% | -1.0% |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 1.9% | 1.8% | -4.7% |
| Chicago, IL-IN | 3.6% | 3.4% | -5.5% |
| Miami, FL | 1.1% | 1.1% | -2.5% |
| Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 2.8% | 2.4% | -11.2% |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 0.6% | 0.5% | -4.9% |
| Houston, TX | 0.7% | 0.7% | -2.0% |
| Washington, DC-VA-MD | 3.5% | 3.2% | -9.3% |
| Atlanta, GA | 0.9% | 0.9% | -6.7% |
| Boston, MA-NH-RI | 2.9% | 2.7% | -6.5% |
| Detroit, MI | 0.4% | 0.4% | -0.7% |
| Phoenix-Mesa, AZ | 0.6% | 0.7% | 14.3% |
| San Francisco-Oakland, CA | 7.1% | 6.6% | -7.0% |
| Seattle, WA | 3.4% | 3.4% | 1.2% |
| San Diego, CA | 1.4% | 1.3% | -7.1% |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI | 1.1% | 1.1% | -1.7% |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL | 0.4% | 0.3% | -12.9% |
| Denver-Aurora, CO | 1.7% | 1.6% | -1.4% |
| Baltimore, MD | 2.3% | 2.3% | -2.0% |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | 0.7% | 0.6% | -10.3% |
| Riverside-San Bernardino, CA | 0.5% | 0.4% | -8.2% |
| Las Vegas-Henderson, NV | 1.0% | 0.9% | -3.0% |
| Portland, OR-WA | 2.3% | 2.3% | -0.1% |
| Cleveland, OH | 0.8% | 0.7% | -11.7% |
| San Antonio, TX | 0.7% | 0.6% | -3.7% |
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