Good evening. There are several factors that affect ridership of mass transit systems in America. In a March 2016 study by William J. Mallett for the Congressional Research Service, he finds that gas prices, availability of personal vehicles, as well as alternate means of transportation (Mallet, 2018, p. 5). Additionally, the availability and routes of mass transit systems also affect ridership. For example, the city in North Carolina from where I am has a mass transit system that is mostly underutilized due to the limited buses and routes serving the citizenry. All of these are factors that negatively affect the levels or ridership in mass transit.

In the article by William Vickrey, the author proposes taxing or charging drivers for the use of public highways as a means of subsidizing mass transit systems while deterring the use of privately owned vehicles. However, I do not think that means of control has proven effective. For example, a city like Miami and its surrounding municipalities has toll roads where drivers are charged for the use of the highway; nevertheless, the amount of privately owned vehicles moving on these seems to remain constant. Traffic only appears to vary based on the hour of the day, and there are mass transit systems available to the public. In this case, the factor that affects ridership may be convenience. It is preferable to use ones own vehicle and move independently than spend more time in a bus or metro.

Another factor may be safety. For example, in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, there is mass transit system called TransMilenio with dedicated lanes and articulated buses to accommodate the amount of users. However, the system has passenger safety issues due to robberies and such. Therefore, most people prefer to use their own vehicle and spend extended periods of time in traffic.

References

Mallett, W. (2018 March, 26). Trends in Public Transportation Ridership: Implications for Federal Policy. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45144.pdf

Vickrey, W. (1965). Pricing as a Tool in Coordination of Local Transportation. National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from https://edge.apus.edu/access/content/group/management-common/TLMT/TLMT601/Pricing%20as%20a%20tool%20in%20coordination%20of%20local%20transportation.pdf