Following Good Investment Rules Can
Stop Transit Ridership Losses

Philadelphia's recent efforts to revamp its transit service are showing that ridership can stay high even when employment centers that normally attract commuters close down.

Since 1985, ridership on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has dropped 15 percent. In the last year, however, SEPTA has stopped the loss of riders, according to figures released last month. This could be a significant victory for a transit agency plagued in recent years by financial crises, crumbling infrastructure and service cuts.

This summer, John Leary, SEPTA's new general manager, began a six-month campaign to win back riders. The project includes lessons learned from other transit authorities that are defying the national trend of declining ridership. According to federal figures, 14 of the nation's 30 busiest transit agencies increased ridership between 1985 and 1995. Most of the success stories resulted from following similar guidelines:

Success Follows Similar Patterns

• Heavy investment in overhauling stations, tracks and vehicles, in extending service into new neighborhoods, and state-of-the-art light rail systems.

• Reduced labor costs, gained by cutting crew sizes and automating ticket sales and other services.

• Public-private programs that offer passes at bargain prices.

• Simplified fares.

• Faster, more frequent service, including express trains and busways.

• Cleaner stops and cars, increasing the feeling of safety.

• Increased service and lower fares for trips to suburban job centers.

• Regional planning to develop businesses and homes along existing or planned transit routes.

In major American cities, like Philadelphia, people and jobs have been moving to the suburbs, where cars are the main travel mode. Many major transit agencies have been losing passengers faster than SEPTA. In New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Cleveland, ridership has fallen more than 25 percent since 1985, according to federal figures. Chicago's ridership dropped 31 percent, the worst in the country.

There is no single characteristic common to the 14 major cities that have increased ridership. Some have older urban transit agencies, such as Boston, Baltimore and St. Louis. Others are suburban systems, such as New Jersey Transit, New York's Metro-North and Chicago's Metra. Newer systems, such as in Seattle, Denver and Portland, Ore., also have used innovations to make ridership increase with population. Portland's ridership has grown twice as fast as its population.

A top priority for all successful transit agencies has been designing services for reverse commuters, who travel from inner cities to suburban job centers. SEPTA, for example, serves 20,000 daily reverse commuters.

But before any ridership campaign can be successful, it must be well-financed. Boston's ridership increases, for example, can be traced to the infusion of about $3 billion to overhaul and expand the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). About $750 million was spent to rebuild a main city-train artery, the Orange Line, in what officials said was one of the largest public works projects in American history. Subway platforms were extended for longer trains. Track, signals and power systems were reconstructed and stations renovated. In the 1990s, Boston is spending billions more to extend rail service into suburbs.

More Riders Requires More Funding

Boston followed the well-known rule that to attract more riders, transit agencies must spend more money. New Jersey Transit has invested heavily since the early 1980s in improving its trains and buses. San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit extended its commuter rail system. Seattle dug a 1.3-mile trolley tunnel under downtown. All of the systems benefited with increased ridership.

SEPTA officials hope their ongoing $1 billion project to rebuild and re-equip the Market-Frankford A Line will yield similar results, such as by increasing ridership between city and suburbs. Despite its high costs, rail is still the most popular with customers. In St. Louis, for example, the MetroLink's ridership ran twice as high as projected in its first year after opening in 1993. Last year, Metrolink carried 13 million passengers.

Land use policies that encourage transit also are key components of ridership increases. In Washington, D.C., and Portland, for example, zoning restrictions favor development near rail stations.

(UTN - 9/10/97)