Public-transport use in America has been slow to recover from the pandemic. And that means less revenue from fares
Within a week, a deal had been worked out by the state legislature. Assuming it passes , instead of cuts roughly $1.1bn a year will be made available to public transport, raised from the state’s emissions cap-and-trade scheme. California will thus stave off a problem afflicting public-transport systems across America: that of a fiscal cliff, as federal covid-relief money dries up. The Golden State is not alone in creating a financial parachute.
Compared with other countries, public-transport use in America has been slow to recover from the pandemic. The number of bus and train passengers in May was still at only 69% of the pre-pandemic level, according to data from the American Public Transportation Association, an industry group. In May New York’s subway was carrying a mere 71% of the passenger total in 2019. Ridership on, in the San Francisco Bay Area, was at just 37% of the 2019 figure.
If it persists, lower ridership means less revenue from fares. For example, the ticket take on the Chicago Transit Authority was almost $300m lower last year than in 2019.
Yet even if states put up money, other changes will be needed to encourage ridership. Rising crime and disorder have kept some passengers off the subway in New York, says Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute, a think-tank. In Los Angeles, where homelessness has become an extreme problem, 22 people died in the year to March on buses and trains, most from drug overdoses. Crime also makes holding onto employees trickier, says Kam Buckner, a state representative in Illinois.
Yet good public transport is needed in America’s cities more than ever. Ted Egan, the chief economist of San Francisco, says the city’s economy will struggle to recover without it. “You can’t have everyone drive in,” he says. Without decent buses and trains, building more housing while lessening punishing congestion will be tricky. Yet the benefits, while immense, are also diffuse. By contrast, cliffs, fiscal or otherwise, are difficult to miss.
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