Legacy of Public Transport

In urban areas, public transport is better suited than motor vehicles to moving large numbers of people because each transit traveler takes up far less space. Public transport is cheaper, less polluting, and more energy efficient than privately operated motor vehicles. It also is particularly suited to rapidly bringing a large number of people into a small area. A bus can accommodate 30 people in the amount of space occupied by one car, whereas a double-track rapid transit line can transport the same number of people as 16 lanes of urban freeway. Despite the small number of trips by public transport, the mode of travel is an important component of transportation systems in large cities.

Because few people live within walking distance of their place of employment, urban areas are characterized by extensive commuting. The heaviest flow of commuters is into the CBD in the morning and out of it in the evening. Rush hour, or peak hour, is the four consecutive 15-minute periods that have the heaviest traffic. The intense concentration of people in the CBD during working hours strains transportation systems because a large number of people must reach a small area of land at the same time in the morning and disperse at the same time in the afternoon. As much as 40 percent of all trips made into or out of a CBD occur during four hours of the day—two in the morning and two in the afternoon.

Public Transit Around the World

Public transit is classified as heavy rail, light rail, and bus. Heavy rail includes underground subways and elevated trains. Light rail includes trams and streetcars. In hundreds of cities around the world extensive networks of public transit lines have been maintained, and funds for new construction have been provided in recent years. According to the International Association of Public Transport, 178 cities have heavy-rail systems in operation as of 2017, including 75 opened since 2000. Wikipedia reports that 401 cities have light-rail systems in operation as of 2018. And cities with existing service have been expanding them.

Expanding Munich Transit Lines

The greater importance placed on public transport outside the United States can be seen by comparing Indianapolis, Indiana, with Munich, Germany. Both urban areas have around 1.4 million inhabitants, and both have around 500 kilometers of bus lines. But Indianapolis has no rail service, whereas Munich has 103 kilometers of U-Bahn (underground heavy rail), 434 kilometers of S-Bahn (elevated heavy rail), and 83 kilometers of trams.

Munich Public Transit Options

Pause & Reflect 13.3.5

Do you regularly utilize public transport? Why or why not?

Public Transport in The United States

The expansion of U.S. cities was constrained in the nineteenth century by poor transportation. People lived in crowded cities because they had to be within walking distance of shops and places of employment. Horse-drawn trams and buses were ineffective because the intense congestion prevented them from moving any faster than a pedestrian. Into the twentieth century to relieve congestion, the largest U.S. cities built subways and elevated train lines, especially after they could be operated with electricity rather than steam- or horse-power.

By the late nineteenth century, so-called streetcar suburbs developed outside some U.S. cities. People could live in a suburban house and commute to the CBD by rail. Some of these streetcar suburbs still exist and retain unique visual identities. They consist of houses and shops clustered near a station or former streetcar stop at a much higher density than is found in newer suburbs.

The suburban explosion in the twentieth century relied on motor vehicles rather than railroads, especially in the United States. Rail lines had restricted nineteenth-century suburban development to narrow ribbons within walking distance of the stations. Cars and trucks permitted large-scale development of suburbs at greater distances from the center, in the gaps between the rail lines. Motor vehicle drivers had much greater flexibility in their choice of residence than was ever before possible.

Recent Trends in Public Transport

Public transport reached its peak in the United States in the 1940s, when it carried 23 billion passengers per year. Ridership in the United States declined to a low of around 6 billion in 1970. However, public transport ridership increased from 8 billion in 1995 to 10 billion in 2017.

Public transport in the United States is used primarily for commuting by workers into and out of the CBD. Despite its advantages in getting in and out of the CBD, public transport is used for only 5 percent of commuting trips in the United States. One-half of trips to work are by public transport in New York; one-third in Boston, San Francisco, and Washington; and one-fourth in Chicago and Philadelphia. But in most other cities, public transport service is minimal or nonexistent. Motorists driving alone account for 76 percent of commuters and carpooling for another 10 percent.

Public Transit Passengers in U.S. Cities

Light-rail transit was once relegated almost exclusively to tourist attractions in New Orleans and San Francisco but is making a comeback in North America. Since 1975, 21 new light-rail systems have been opened in the United States. Dallas and Los Angeles—long dependent entirely on motor vehicles—opened light-rail lines during the 1990s and now have the two largest U.S. systems, more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) each. Ten other U.S. cities and two Canadian cities have new systems between 50 and 100 kilometers (30 and 60 miles).

Entirely new subway systems were opened between 1972 and 1993 in six U.S. cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, and Washington. Cities with century-old systems such as Boston and Chicago have attracted new passengers through construction of new lines and modernization of existing ones. Chicago has pioneered construction of heavy-rail rapid transit lines in the median strips of expressways. The federal government has permitted Boston, New York, and other cities to use funds originally allocated for interstate highways to modernize rapid transit service instead. New York’s subway cars, once covered with graffiti, have been cleaned so that passengers can ride in a more hospitable environment.

Challenges Facing Public Transit

Despite modest recent successes, public transit in the United States is caught in a vicious circle because fares do not cover operating costs. As patronage declines and expenses rise, the fares are increased, which drives away passengers and leads to service reduction and still higher fares. Public expenditures to subsidize construction and operating costs have increased, but the United States does not fully recognize that public transportation is a vital utility deserving of subsidy to the degree long assumed by governments in other developed countries, as well as developing countries.

The minimal level of public transit service in most U.S. cities means that low-income people may not be able to reach places of employment. Low-income people tend to live in inner-city neighborhoods, but the job opportunities, especially those requiring minimal training and skill in personal services, are in suburban areas not well served by public transportation. Inner-city neighborhoods have high unemployment rates at the same time that suburban firms have difficulty attracting workers. In some cities, governments and employers subsidize vans to carry low-income inner-city residents to suburban jobs.