Latest National Analysis of Ridership Trends

This project builds upon the research team’s existing work quantifying the impact of different factors affecting transit ridership – including the recent COVID-19 pandemic – at a nation-wide scale. The project extends the multi-city analyses to include the most recent, up-to-date data through 2020 using the latest National Transit Database (NTD) ridership statistics for both rail and bus. Econometric and statistical models will be used to identify a short-term “COVID-19 effect” after controlling for changes in levels of service, population, macroeconomic conditions, and other relevant variables. Other emerging trends and changes in transit ridership due to changes in factors like employment, gas prices and telecommuting will also be explored. The project will establish the sensitivity of transit ridership to changes in variables such as service miles, employment, and gas prices for the most recent period of dramatic decline (2020).

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $Match funds from Tennessee DOT
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Tennessee Department of Transportation

  James K. Polk Building
  Fifth and Deaderick Street
  Nashville, TN  United States  37243-0349

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Principal Investigators:

  Brakewood, Candace

  Watkins, Kari

  Erhardt, Greg

• Start Date: 20210901
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: COVID-19; Econometrics; Employment; Fuels; Prices; Ridership; Telecommuting
• Subject Areas: Economics; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01841511
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transit-Serving Communities Optimally, Responsively, and Efficiently Center (T-SCORE)
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Apr 6 2022 2:16PM