Source: Bureau of Transport Statistics, National Transportation Database.

Trips by Public Transport in the United States, 1980-2004

Since the 1980s, transit ridership has remained roughly to same in the United States, despite continuous investments and improvements. Variations in ridership are linked with economic cycles of growth and recession as it is the poorest segment of the population that relies the most on public transit and is also the most vulnerable segment of the job market. Light rail systems have however almost tripled their ridership as many metropolitan areas tried to implement those systems as less costly transit solutions for lower densities. This is an indication that most of urban development occurred in suburban areas, which are poorly serviced by transit systems. Still the overall impact of light rail is negligible at best and ridership figures are comparatively very small and are likely to remain so. For instance, in New York, despite 10 years of investment, public transit ridership declined from 4.8 million trips per day in 1980 to 4.3 million per day in 1992.