Transit Facts

Public transportation includes all multiple occupancy vehicle services designed to transport customers on local
and regional routes. These services include; private and public buses; trolleybuses; vanpools; jitneys; demand
response services; heavy and light rail; commuter rail; automated guideway transit; cable cars; monorails;
tramways; and ferryboats

Who Uses Public Transportation?

  • Almost everyone uses public transportation at one time or another.
  • In 2003, Americans took 9.4 billion trips using public transportation.
  • Each weekday, approximately 31 million trips are taken each weekday in the US. After transfers and round trips, more than 14 million people use public transportation.
  • Majority of transportation users are between the age of 19-64; persons under 18 compromise 8%, and riders aged 65 and over comprise 7%.
  • Riders are almost equally divided between men and women.

Where Do People Go on Public Transportation?

  • Most trips, (54%) allow people to get to and from work.
  • Other uses for public transportation include:
    • School and educational activities: 15%
    • Shopping: 9%
    • Social visits to family & Friends: 9%
    • Medical appointments: 5%
    • Other Trips: 8%
  • Many trips are taken for multiple reasons.

How Large is America’s Public Transportation Industry?

  • America’s public transportation systems directly employ more than 351,000 workers.
  • More than 139,000 vehicles are in active service within the U.S. public transportation fleet. Of these buses represent 56%; demand response vehicles, 26%; heavy rail cars 8%; commuter rail cars 4%; light rail cars 1%; and all other modes 5%.

How Many Public Transportation Providers Are There?

  • Eight metropolitan transit systems, thirty-nine rural transit districts, and thirty-three urban transit districts operate in Texas.
  • For purposes of coordination in Texas, HB 3588 expanded the definition of public transportation to include those systems or private, for-private companies which receive public funds for transportation, even those under a contractual relationship.

Opportunity

Public transportation creates a wealth of new opportunities for individuals and communities. It is a catalyst
for economic and social opportunities that help make America more efficient and productive.

Public Transportation Provides Economic for Individuals

  • American families spent 18% of household spending on transportation, making it the second largest household expenditure after housing. Public transportation can significantly reduce the amount of money a family spends getting to work, school and other activities.
  • The high cost of driving, insuring and parking a car results in a reduction in individual economic opportunities.
    It can make it hard for many to access high quality and high paying jobs. Public transportation provides an affordable, and for many a necessary alternative to driving.

Public Transportation Provides Economic Opportunities for Communities

  • For every dollar taxpayers invest in public transportation, at least $6 is generated in economic return.
  • In the first year, a sustained program of transit capital investment will generate an increase of $800,000 in personal income for each $10 million invested. These benefits increase to $18 million for personal income after 20 years.
  • For each $10 million invested in transit capital funding, 314 jobs are created.
  • For every $10 million invested in public transportation, more than $15 million is saved in transportation costs.
  • For every $10 million invested in public transportation, a $30 million gain in sales for local businesses can be achieved.
  • On average, government can achieve a 4 – 16 percent gain in revenues from transit investment.
    See: American Public Transportation Association (APTA), The Benefits of Public Transportation: An Overview.

Public Transportation Supports the Community

  • During emergencies, such as floods, hurricanes, and fires, public transit comes to the rescue of the public and workers alike.
  • Vinyl wraps around buses promote community events, organizations, and public service messages.
    (See examples.)
  • Public transportation provides special service to community events such as Christmas shopping, special tours, and concerts. (See example.)
  • Special programs are conducted for groups in need of discounts or adjusted fares. (See example.)

Freedom and Security

Public transportation provides Americans with freedom to live their lives, pursue opportunities, make choices, and enjoy grater mobility. It helps create neighborhoods that are strong, an environment that is clean, and an economy that is prosperous. Ensuring this freedom requires safety and security. That is why every public transportation system in America has made the safety and security of passengers a top priority.

Public Transportation Maintains Freedom by Providing Security

  • Every major public transportation authority has comprehensive emergency plans in place.
  • Most large transit systems have their own specially trained police forces. In addition, local law enforcement agencies assist in providing security for transit systems.
  • Public transportation employees receive routine disaster and emergency training.
  • Public transportation employees work closely with fire and rescue crews, police and sheriff’s departments, and local power companies.

Public Transportation Responds to Emergencies When Crisis Strikes

  • When terrorists struck on September 11, 2001
    • The Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) train system and the MTA in New York saved lives by evacuating passengers and transporting rescue workers quickly and efficiently.
    • After the attack on the Pentagon, Metrorail and public transit in Washington D.C. transported injured persons and operated at emergency levels to transport people out of the area.
    • Throughout the country, transit systems evacuated people from airports in major cities and kept America moving during suspension of air service.
  • When hurricanes threaten the Gulf coast, Texas transit systems are activated to provide emergency evacuation and assistance with emergency systems.

Public Transportation Responds to New Challenges

  • U.S. DOT’s National Infrastructure Security Committee brings together the transportation industry, labor unions and the government to examine security systems, set national standards and ensure protection for transportation assets.
  • Major public transportation systems are implementing scanners and detectors to respond to bio-terrorist attacks or chemical accidents.
  • Enhanced safety and security measures are being implemented, including increased and greater visibility of security personnel, removal of receptacles that could hide dangerous packages, and increased public awareness through the Transit Watch program with calls to passengers to be alert for suspicious activities and packages.
  • Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff plans to centralize his agency’s terror analysis, put a higher priority on bioterrorism and step up detection systems in mass transit.

Access and Choice

Public transportation makes it possible for millions of people to access work, school, medical appointments and other everyday activities. Every day transit allows Americans from every walk of life to make decisions that improve the quality of their lives, such as shortening commute times to spend more time with their families, doing their part to improve air quality, and saving energy.

Getting People Where They Need to Go

  • About 14 million people take public transportation every weekday.
  • An estimated 94 percent of welfare recipients moving into the workforce rely on public transportation (APTA, “Access to Work Best Practices Survey,â€? 1999).

Public Transportation Creates Stronger, More Livable Communities

  • With public transportation, open spaces can be preserved, pedestrian-only zones can be created, a community’s appearance can be enhanced, and fewer cars are needed.
  • Public transportation provides convenient and affordable transportation to community events, such as concerts, fairs, and charitable fund-raisers.

Public Transportation Reduces Traffic Congestion and Lessens Commute Time

  • In 2000 the total cost of congestion in terms of lost hours and wasted fuel was $68 billion. Nationwide, the total annual cost may approach $100 billion. (Texas Transportation Institute, 2002 Urban Mobility Study: Mobility Issues and Measures, College Station, Texas, 2002)
  • Public transportation reduces the number of vehicles on the road and vehicle miles traveled. The Maryland Department of Transportation estimates that a full rail car removes 200 cars from the road, a full bus removes 60 cars, and a full van removes 12 cars. (The Future of Transit in Maryland: One Million Riders a Day by the Year 2020, Report of the Maryland Transit Advisory Panel, January 1999. )
  • According to a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) study of six urban corridors served by high-capacity rail transit:
    • Public transportation passengers saved 17,400 hours daily over auto travel in the corridors.
    • Remaining road users in the corridors saved 22,000 hours of delay per day due to the absence of vehicles from public transportation users.
    • Travelers on surrounding roads in the corridors saved an additional 20,700 hours daily as spillover congestion was reduced.

    These reductions represent savings of $225 million annually in the six corridors analyzed (Transit Benefits 2000 Working Papers: A Public Choice Policy Analysis, Federal Transit Administration, Office of Policy Development Policy Paper, Washington, DC, 2000. ).

Benefits

While transit clearly benefits those who use it, even larger benefits accrue to all citizens in the form of economic development, reduced congestion, more livable communities and cleaner air.

Public Transportation Supports Cleaner Air

Public Transportation Encourages People To Walk More, Stress Less

  • Transit-friendly, walkable communities reduce reliance on motor vehicles and promote higher levels of physical activity (APTA, The Route to Better Personal Health).
  • With public transportation, less travel time, more predictability, enhanced control and less effort required to make a trip reduces the stress levels and negative health effects associated with driving. (Wener, Prof. Richard, and Evans, Prof. Gary, The Impact of Mode and Mode Transfers on Commuter Stress, Final Report, New Jersey Department of Transportation, Division of Research and Technology, August 2000)

Public Transportation Helps People Avoid Dangerous Situations

  • Considerable documentation shows that accident, injury, and fatality rates for users of public transit are lower than for users of private motor vehicles. (NCRP Report 20, Measuring and Valuing Transit Benefits and Disbenefits, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., p. 20.)
  • Riding the bus is 170 times safer than automobile travel. (National Safety Council, Injury Facts, 2001, Washington DC, 2002)

2000 Census

Qualifying Urban Areas for Census 2000 (PDF file) provides the list of urbanized areas in Texas based on the results of the 2000 Census of Population and Housing for the United States.

How does Census 2000 data effect transit agencies? Frequently Asked Questions from the Federal Transit Administration about 2000 Census Data in Relation to FTA Sections 5307, 5311 and 5309 Fixed Guideway Modernization Programs.

Urban Mobility

Texas Transportation Institute’s Urban Mobility Report.