The Center for Transportation Excellence
1640 19th Street, NW
Suite 2
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: (202) 234-7562
Fax: (202) 318-1429
info@cfte.org
www.cfte.org

Transit Facts:

• Since 1980, three subway systems, sixteen light rail systems and 1240 bus systems have been added to U.S. communities.
• The adjusted cost of congestion in the 75 areas studied by the Texas Transportation Institute has tripled in the past twenty years to $68 billion in 2000.
• A regular rush-hour driver wastes an average of 99 gallons of gasoline a year due to traffic. The average cost of the time lost in rush hour traffic is $1,160 per person.
• In the past two decades, government spending on transportation has increased threefold. The state and local share of government spending has increased by 15% in that same period. In 1999, State and local governments covered 85% of transit spending, compared to 75% of highway spending.
• From 1995 to 2000 transit passenger miles increased by 16% while passenger car miles increased by 11%.
• Public transportation is a $32 billion industry that employs more than 350,000 people.
• Three-quarters of Americans support the use of public funds for the expansion and improvement of public transportation.
• Public transportation ridership has increased 22 percent in the last six years.
• Four in five Americans believe that increased investment in public transportation strengthens the economy, creates jobs, reduces traffic congestion and air pollution, and saves energy.
• An estimated 14 million Americans ride public transportation each weekday and an additional 25 million use it on a less frequent but regular basis.
• In 2000, Americans took 9.4 billion trips using public transportation, an increase of 3.5% from the previous year - the equivalent of more than one million new trips each day.
• The annual cost of driving a single-occupant vehicle is between $4,826 (for a small car) and $9,685 (for a large car), depending upon mileage. The annual average cost for public transportation for one adult ranges from $200 to $2,000, depending upon services used.
• American families spend 18% of their household budgets on transportation, making it the second largest household expenditure after housing.
• If one in 10 Americans regularly used transit, U.S. reliance on foreign oil could decline by more than 40%, or nearly the amount of oil imported from Saudi Arabia each year.
• Every dollar that U.S. taxpayers invest in public transportation generates $6 or more in economic returns.
• Americans living in transit-intensive areas save $22 billion each year by using public transportation.
• 85% of all transportation costs in the U.S. are related to private automobiles.
• If one in five Americans used public transportation daily, carbon monoxide pollution would decrease by more than all the emissions from the entire chemical manufacturing industry and all metal processing plants in the U.S.
• In the last five years, transit use has increased faster than any other mode of transportation.