Public transportation ridership up 2% in 2001

For the sixth consecutive year, national public transportation ridership has increased. In 2001, ridership increased 2% compared to 2000, according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). APTA reports that Americans rode public transportation a record 9.5 billion times in 2001. Last year, public transportation use grew twice as fast as car use (1%). In the past six years, the number of trips taken on public transportation grew by 23%, growing faster than the U.S. population (8.4%), highway use (14.7%) and domestic air travel (12.5%). The highest ridership gains for multimodal transit systems include: the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (15%), Denver's Regional Transportation District (6.7%) and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (5.9%). Modes of transportation showing the largest percentage increases in ridership for 2001 were demand response/paratransit at 7.6%, light rail at 3.5%, commuter rail at 2.3% and bus systems and 2.1%.