Transit Ridership has been falling since 2014

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Transit Ridership has been falling since 2014

California

“Public transit ridership has been falling nationally and in California since 2014,” a UCLA report issued just last week revealed.

This trend is paradoxical. (According to the Embarcadero Institute, a Bay Area think tank),
as California transit systems expanded service, they

increased their spending from $10.4 billion in 2014 to $12.3 billion in 2018 — most of it from taxpayers, not riders —
but
their ridership declined from 1.5 billion passengers to 1.3 billion during that same period.

San Francisco Bay Area

“The San Francisco Bay Area, with the state’s highest rates of transit use, had until recently resisted Greater Los Angeles trends.
However, in 2017 and 2018 the region lost over 5% (27 million) of its annual riders, despite a booming economy and service increases.”

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system’s trains have seen a loss of nearly 10 million night and weekend passengers in the last four years.

Southern California

A 2018 report by UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies reveals that despite adding more than 530 miles of commuter rail in the Southern California region, transit agencies have seen steady declines in ridership since reaching a peak in 1985.

CONCLUSION

“Driving is relatively easy, while transit is not. There are strong economic and social incentives for people to drive more and ride transit less,” the UCLA report concluded.

California politicians remain committed to relieve the housing shortage, on the familiar naïve belief that transportation habits will be transformed.

So far, Californians aren’t buying what their politicians are selling.