As illustrated by the tweet from Stanford economics professor Nick Bloom, it’s beginning to sink in that transit ridership is not going to recover to more than about 65 percent of what it was before the pandemic. However, instead of raising “concerns over the survival of public transit systems,” we should see this as an opportunity to reinvent an industry that was already obsolete years before the pandemic.
Another indicator that #WFH is permanent: public transit journeys stabilizing at 35% below 2019 levels.
This raises concerns over the survival of public transit systems. Costs are heavily fixed – think train and subway networks – but revenue is way down with 35% less journeys. pic.twitter.com/JnJtuPYCg5
— Nick Bloom (@I_Am_NickBloom) December 29, 2022
The 2021 National Transit Database reveals that many transit agencies are spending as much per rider as it would cost to send those riders in taxis, Uber, or Lyft. Counting both operating and capital costs, the average cost per light-rail trip was more than $40. Even just counting operating costs, the average cost per light-rail rider in San Jose was more than $53 and in Pittsburgh was almost $49. Continue reading
