APTA Transit Board Members Seminar (Baltimore, MD)
07-22-03
Lois L. Fu, Special Assistant to the Administrator, Federal Transit Administration
Good morning, and thank you, Mychal [Walker]. On behalf of FTA, I want to express our appreciation for this opportunity to talk with you today about an issue that we believe is key to the continued growth of transit… ridership.
As Ron [Barnes] noted, as transit board members, you are uniquely positioned to bring together the resources of your community… to help make the case for transit through increased ridership and to make transit part of the economic solution in your community.
This morning, I'm going to talk a bit about three things:
- First: The "case" for transit is today. Why government at all levels, as well as private business, should invest in transit.
- Second: Measuring transit ridership, including current ridership results; and
- Third: Ridership strategies.
I hope to give you some ideas about new ways that you can sell transit in your own community. Making the Case for Transit
Traditionally, increased mobility has been the driving force behind transit investment. Mobility for people who could not afford a car has been especially important. And it still is today. Nearly 94% of public assistance recipients do not own cars. They rely on public transportation to access services and community life… and they rely on public transportation as a lifeline to jobs.
But there is more to the case for public transportation. Federal, State and local governments provide millions of dollars for specialized transportation programs - to get Medicaid recipients to the doctor; to get job seekers to interviews; to get older adults to senior centers and congregate meal programs.
In fact, a recent GAo study found that, at the Federal level, over 60 different programs in eight separate Federal agencies were providing such transportation services. They also found that the uncoordinated delivery of those services, conflicting program rules, and restrictive grant requirements mean that the government is spending much more than necessary and helping fewer people than possible.
Some States and localities have already figured out how to do this better, however. In Dade County, Florida, the Medicaid agency and the transit agency have gotten together…and issued transit passes for Medicaid clients. The passes give the rider unlimited travel for $1 a month. The transit agency has new riders…and the Dade County Medicaid agency saves over half a million a month in transportation costs…nearly $7 million a year.
At a time when State budgets - especially Medicaid budgets - are tight, this promising practice has real potential for proving the benefits of growing transit in a community.
Congestion Benefits of Transit
Some argue that transit doesn't really impact congestion… when you build transit -- just like when you build roads - the roads simply fill up again. There's at least one important difference, however… transit takes up much less room than highways. To carry 15,000 people in an hour, it would take 34 lanes of urban streets or 14 lanes of freeway… but it takes just 2 lanes of dedicated busways or a rail track in each direction to carry that many people. The truth is there isn't really a choice in most urban areas, because there just isn't any place to put more highways.
Travel time savings
In fact, there is some evidence to suggest that there is a transit-auto time equilibrium. That is, transit pulls drivers off the roads until the commuting times on the road are just about the same as the commuting time on transit. From an economist's perspective, that consumer choice makes sense, and it means that the faster transit can get people where they want to go, the quicker the commute will be for everyone.
Travel time savings occur not only for people; transit also speeds the shipment of goods. As traffic lightens and moves faster, freight moves faster, too. And, as businesses move toward just-in-time business strategies, getting goods on time matters even more. It is estimated that traffic congestion costs U.S. businesses nearly $40 billion every year, in delivery delays and lost time for employees.
In Atlanta, when corporations were asked to name the most serious impediment to business in the metropolitan area, the overwhelming answer was "traffic congestion." One company there has found the solution to its traffic problems. BellSouth decided to consolidate all of its suburban offices into three central locations that are accessible from MARTA, the city's rail system.
Local government Services
Time lost on the road is not the only cost of congestion - and its not the only cost-saving that communities gain from increased transit use. With fewer cars on the road, local governments have lower highway-related costs like traffic enforcement and emergency services. One study estimates that current transit use reduces roadway-related costs to local governments by as much as $1 billion to $1.7 billion a year.
Emissions Reduction
Emissions reduction is a factor, too. Americans drive their 200 million cars and light trucks more than 2 trillion miles a year… and emit more than half the air pollution nationwide. Transit has the potential - in fact, it's probably the only way - to significantly reduce pollution, without imposing more taxes or more government regulations.
Energy Savings
Energy savings are just as important. An astounding 43 percent of America's energy is used for transportation - and a substantial amount of that is wasted because of congestion. People who travel during rush hour waste nearly 100 gallons every year - an estimated 5.7 billion gallons annually.
But its not just congestion that wastes fuel and costs money. Public transportation is significantly more fuel efficient, even under ideal highway conditions. In fact, a bus with just 7 passengers is more fuel-efficient than an average car with one occupant. And a fully occupied rail car is 15 times more fuel-efficient.
A recent study funded by APTA suggested that if Americans used public transportation at the same level as Europeans - for roughly 10 percent of their daily travel - the U.S. could reduce its dependence on imported oil by more than 40 percent…nearly the amount we import from Saudi Arabia each year.
Accident Costs
Finally, transit saves America money in accident costs - particularly medical care. Transit trips with destinations similar to those with cars result in about 200,000 fewer deaths and injuries…adding up to $2 billion to $5 billion in safety benefits each year.
Why is transit so much safer?
- Because transit vehicles are driven by highly trained operators.
- Because public transportation vehicles are more substantially built than private automobiles - even SUVs!
- And because transit vehicles often travel on separate rights-of-way from other traffic.
There is clearly a congestion case to be made for transit… and it goes far beyond how long it takes for the typical driver to get to work.
Economic Benefits of Transit
I won't go into so much detail with regard to the economic impact of transit, but it is a benefit - a justification for transit - that is sometimes underrated.
Business Revenues
The fact is, transit investments translate directly into business revenues and profits. Recent studies have estimated that every $10 million in transit capital investment yields $30 million in business sales…and investments in transit operations have even greater payoffs.
In transit intensive areas, offices and retail businesses can reduce parking by 30 to 50 percent. And the profitability of businesses that locate in a development near transit goes up significantly.
Business Development and Local Tax Revenue
In Arlington County, Virginia - development along the Metro line uses just 6 percent of the land in the county, but produces nearly half of the county's tax revenue.
In city after city - Washington DC, Atlanta, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Portland, Santa Clara - and study after study, researchers have found that the value of property (both residential and commercial) is higher the closer it gets to transit access. That means local tax revenue grows because of transit, too.
Family Finances
It's not just business finances that benefit from transit, however. Family finances benefit, too. The average household spends about 18 cents of every dollar earned on transportation - and 98 percent of that goes toward buying, maintaining, and operating a car. In poor families, transportation costs can exceed 35 percent of income.
And it's especially difficult for families in areas with few public transportation options. In New York, where public transportation is widely available, about 15 percent of consumer expenditures go toward transportation. But in Houston, the figure runs from 23 percent to 50 percent or more.
Ridership is the Key
So, you're probably saying to yourself… yes, we all know the benefits of public transportation…so what's the point?
The point is…
…that achieving these benefits depends entirely on transit ridership. If we don't increase the number of people on the bus, on the train, on the trolley…we won't see the reductions in emissions, energy savings, development growth, or disposable income.
And that's why the FTA is focused on increasing ridership.
There is considerable discussion among transit insiders about how to measure ridership, including talk about …
- Whether it's fair to count areas where transit doesn't exist in looking at transit's market share…
- Whether we should be talking about market share at all…
- Whether transit agencies that are more cost-efficient should get more credit for the same level of ridership as other agencies…
- Whether transit agencies should get a bonus for attracting a higher percentage of harder-to-please commuters…
FTA is happy to work with the transit industry to make sure that when we measure ridership increases, we do so in the fairest possible way. But the time has clearly come - in the interest of transit and the interest of our communities - to focus on results.
Over the last year and a half, FTA has relentlessly pursued a focus on results.
- We have proposed the creation of a ridership incentive program under SAFETEA - a program that would give out nearly $1.3 billion in performance awards over 6 years based on increases in ridership.
- We have modified the Department of Transportation and FTA goals and accountabilities to better reflect our objective of increasing transit ridership in every community. The old measures of transit ridership looked simply at the total ridership in the nation…and with New York carrying about 40 percent of passenger-miles traveled, there was little incentive to pay much attention to anywhere else.
- Now, we look at the change in ridership on a per market basis… and New York counts as one market, just like Tampa, Baltimore, Phoenix or Salt Lake City.
- And, perhaps most importantly, the senior leadership in FTA has made increased ridership one of four shared accountabilities. That means every senior leader has a personal stake in helping to meet the goal.
Our goal is to increase ridership on a per market basis an average of 2 percent, controlling for changes in the economy. Based on a review of the research available, we have determined that the most appropriate economic adjustment factor to use is change in employment, which is collected and published monthly for urbanized areas by the Department of Labor.
Results to Date
Historically, average ridership for all transit agencies on a per market basis, adjusted for employment changes, exceeded the 2 percent growth level in 5 of the last 10 years. Reaching that growth rate has been a little tougher for the 150 largest transit agencies. But we've hit it in 3 of the last 10 years. It's not going to be easy to reach our goal, but it is doable.
FTA started collecting monthly information on boardings through the National Transit Database in January 2002. This information is collected only from the 150 largest agencies, and it represents boardings, not passenger-miles traveled as our annual measure requires. Beginning in January 2003, we were able to look at the month-to-month change in ridership - comparing, for example January 2002 ridership to January 2003 ridership - and to control for changes in employment, as well.
We view this data as a management tool… a way to see where things are going well, if some areas are having more problems that others… and a way to give our regional administrators some information to work with.
Based on the information we have through March 2003, it appears that both the adjusted and unadjusted ridership growth were below the two percent target in January and February, but in March 2003 compared to March 2002 ridership growth is well over the 2 percent target.
Ridership Strategies
Overall, we have identified four key ridership strategies. They are:
- Meeting rider needs/demands for
- Information;
- Cleanliness;
- Safety;
- Affordability; and
- Convenience.
- Creating transit supportive communities through
- Equitable treatment of transit and parking
- Zoning policies that encourage mixed use, high density development near transit
- Developing responsive transit operations that are
- Reliable
- Convenient
- Go where people want to go
- And implementing transit-supportive national policies, such as
In addition to our SAFETEA proposals, FTA has a number of ridership initiatives underway. These include:
- Designing a new NTI course focused on customer-based strategies to increase ridership … built upon market research.
- Pilot programs to test the cost-effectiveness of personalized marketing…giving people information specific to their travel needs and encouraging transit use.
- Promoting universal pass programs… for major employers and universities … exploring the possibility of an expanded joint conference with APTA next year.
- Knocking down the barriers to human service transportation coordination at every level… working with our counterparts at the Federal level, convening agencies at the State level, and promoting joint planning at the local level.
- Focusing on the economic development opportunities of transit…
- With the optional New Starts measure that will take into account the impact of economic growth on transit ridership, and
- By bringing the transit community together around this issue in a variety of forums.
What Transit Boards Can Do
As I said at the beginning of this talk, as board members, you are uniquely positioned to help increase ridership. You can:
- Open doors for transit in the community…you know local business persons, developers, government officials. You have access.
- You can advocate for transit-support policy changes at the local level, including parking, zoning … and even important exceptions to such rules.
- And, most importantly, you can focus management attention on ridership results.
Some of you are already moving in this direction. Jenna mentioned yesterday that a Board member here from Tampa told her that they had made ridership a key accountability for their executive director, setting bonuses tied to ridership increases.
At FTA we are changing from an agency focused almost exclusively on getting grants out the door, to one that views you, your transit agencies, and your transit customers as our customers, as well. As our performance standards indicate, we're in this together: your results are our results. And we look forward to working with all of you to produce results for America.
|
