American Public Transportation Association Predicts Significant Ridership Increases With Gasoline Above $5 per Gallon

A study released by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) predicts that as gasoline prices continue increasing, Americans will turn to public transportation in record numbers. APTA is calling on Congress to address this impending demand by providing a greater long-term investment in public transportation.

The APTA analysis finds that if regular gas prices reach $4 a gallon across the nation, an additional 670 million passenger trips could be expected, resulting in more than 10.8 billion trips per year. If pump prices jump to $5 a gallon, the report predicts an additional 1.5 billion passenger trips can be expected, resulting in more than 11.6 billion trips per year. If prices were to soar to $6 a gallon, expectations go as high as an additional 2.7 billion passenger trips, resulting in more than 12.9 billion trips per year.

We must make significant, long-term investments in public transportation or we will leave our fellow Americans with limited travel options, or in many cases stranded without travel options. Public transit is the quickest way for people to beat high gas prices if it is available.

—APTA President William Millar

Many of the public transit systems across the country are already seeing large ridership increases, some reaching double digits in the month of February as compared to the previous year. As examples, APTA cites: the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority in Pompano Beach, FL increased by 10.6%; Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority of Philadelphia, PA increased by 10%; and the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority of Oakland, CA increased by 14%.

The projected estimates use the 2010 APTA Public Transportation Ridership Report as a baseline. The ridership is then increased by the reported elasticity multiplied by the projected price change to show ridership growth at a given increase above the average price for regular gasoline as reported in the last 2010 report by the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy.

Source: Green Car Congress