Abstract
After a decline in the recession years of the early 1990s, public transit use in the United States rose sharply from 1995 to 2000. Unlinked passenger trips increased by 21%, raising total ridership to the highest level in 40 years. The New York metropolitan area accounted for half of the entire nationwide growth. Transit use increased twice as fast in New York as in the rest of the country. The reasons for transit’s success include the economic boom in the late 1990s, stable transit fares, rising gasoline prices, improved service quality, and expansions in rail transit systems. (A) For more articles by J. Pucher, see http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/