Indiana public transit usage bucking national trend

Many Indiana cities aren't experiencing the same public transit trend that saw more Americans using public buses, trains and subways in greater numbers in 2013 than at any time in more than 50 years.

The American Public Transportation Association report, released Monday, found that number of people using public buses in Fort Wayne was down 3.6 percent last year, down 1.1 percent in Muncie and that ridership on northern Indiana's South Shore commuter railroad was down 1.6 percent.

In Indianapolis, however, the number of people using the public bus system increased last year, with a 2.75-percent increase.

According to the report, the number of rides taken on public buses, trains and subways nationally has fully recovered from a dip during the Great Recession. And with services restored following economy-driven cutbacks, ridership appears set to resume what had been a steady increase.

In 2013, the number of trips stood at nearly 10.7 billion nationally, the highest since 1956, according to data compiled by the American Public Transportation Association and released Monday.

Of course, the nation's population has been expanding, so there are more people to ride the rails and buses. The association's numbers don't mean that the average U.S. resident is taking public transit more often than in the 1950s, when investments in highways and a growth in car ownership began enticing Americans to move away from cities and heralded a decline in mass transit.

But even accounting for population growth, the transportation association argues, a wider segment of Americans are using mass transit, which now offers them more choices.

Since 1995, transit ridership is up 37 percent. During that time, the U.S. population has increased about 20 percent, and vehicle miles traveled are up about 23 percent.

"People are making a fundamental shift to having options" aside from a car in how they get around, said Michael Melaniphy, president and CEO of the public transportation association. "This is a long-term trend. This isn't just a blip."

The increased ridership is not universal. Transit agencies in Tennessee, Kentucky, Milwaukee, Boston and Portland, Ore., for example, reported falling ridership rates. And voters in cities such as Atlanta have rejected taxes for transit improvements.

Even with the ridership rebound, public transit accounts for a small fraction of all trips taken nationally — about 2 or 3 percent, according to Michael Manville, a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University.

He questions whether the nation is ditching its cars in favor of public transit.

"For most public-policy purposes, our concern is not with more transit use but less driving," Manville said. "If we are concerned about pollution and carbon emissions and traffic accidents and congestion, then transit is only beneficial to the extent people drive less because of it."

Federal data suggest that Americans (and Europeans) are driving less. That doesn't necessarily mean they are taking the bus or train more, said professor Marlon Boarnet of the University of Southern California.