Who Commutes using Bus, Subway, Railroad, Cycling, and Walking in the U.S.?

Abstract

In this study, we examine the time-trends in non-car commute modes from 2001-2019; we exclude the data following 2019 due to the idiosyncratic impact of the pandemic. In this study, we simultaneously examine income, age, and other demographic characteristics in the choice to select different modes of transit. We find that while bus transit has decreased, other forms of transit have increased over this period. Moreover, while there are income effects, it is not as simple as public transit is used more by the poor. Instead, the choice to use transit is dependent on mode, income, and density (among other factors). Over time, the impact of income has decreased in predictive power while density, and density-related characteristics like principal city, have increased in importance. Our results are in contradiction to some of the literature in this area and conventional wisdom. This leads to a different understanding of the barriers to higher public transit usage and what investments in transit could lead to higher ridership.

Keywords: Commuting, Public transit, Transportation modes, R48, Time-trends, R41

JEL Classification: R41, R48