Effect of fare reduction on transit ridership in the Atlanta region : summary of transit passenger data. Paper presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board HRB, Washington, D.C., January 1974.

This paper presents in summary form the findings from an intensive onboard survey conducted by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority during November 1972. On March 1, 1972, transit fares in Atlanta were reduced from 40 cents to 15 cents, with free transfers. Patronage immediately increased significantly and continued to increase as the Authority initiated implementation of service improvements as part of its short-range transit improvements program. The research was designed to answer specific questions generated after the ridership increase was observed, including the magnitude of the increase and the distribution of increase between new transit riders and additional trip making by previous riders, the magnitude of diversion from automobile users, and characteristics of new and old riders. This is one of a series of reports from the overall research effort, which includes the on-board study to determine rider characteristics as well as an in-home study to determine attitudes of non-riders and the reasons they do not use transit.