This report was prepared for policy makers searching for ways to boost public transit use in U.S. urban areas and wishing to know what can be learned from the experiences of Canada and Western Europe. With few exceptions, public transit has a more prominent role in Canada and Western Europe than in the United States. This is true not only in large cities, but also in many smaller communities and throughout entire metropolitan areas. Transit is used for about 10 percent of urban trips in Western Europe, compared with about 2 percent in the United States. Canadians use public transit about twice as much as Americans, although there is considerable variation across Canada, just as there is in Western Europe and the United States. A number of factors have contributed to this differential, from higher taxes on motor vehicles and fuel to concerted efforts to control urban development and preserve the form and function of historic cities. Western Europeans and Canadians have devoted considerable attention and resources to ensuring that transit service is convenient, comfortable, and reliable. This report reviews these policies and practices and the historical, political, and economic circumstances that have influenced them. The focus is on comparing the largest industrialised countries of Northern and Western Europe, as well as Canada, because their economic, social, and political conditions are most like those of the United States. The comparisons provide insight into why public transit is used more in Western Europe and Canada, as well as ideas on how to increase ridership in the United States. (Author/publisher)
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