Why do the Democrats keep wasting tens of billions of dollars a year on government buses and subways that no one is riding?
According to the latest American Community Survey (2022), transit lost at least 40% of its commuting market nationally from 2019 to 2022. And it was already tiny in 2019.
Today FIVE times more Americans work from home than take public transit. Among those physically commuting, one-way work trips average 26 minutes.
The left hates cars, but they are FAR more convenient than transit. The latest University of Minnesota Accessibility Observatory 2021 data show that autos can access an average of 67 times as many jobs in 30 minutes of transit (6,700% as many) among 50 metropolitan areas with a 1,000,000 population. Even in the New York metropolitan area – the one city where transit can make sense – the average metro New York worker can get to 10 times as many jobs in a timely way by car than by transit. On the other hand, the vast majority of Manhattan commuters use transit.
The best way to increase job opportunities for low-income Americans is to get them a car so they can get to the jobs. Instead, we keep sending tens of billions down the drain of public transit.