When Gas is Too Pricey

While the previous years’ increase in employment and interest in the environment set the stage, gas prices rising to 4 dollars a gallon created a boom in public transportation. As seen in the graph at the left, which depicts the rise and fall of gas prices over time, they rose steeply in 2008, reaching above 4 dollars at some points. As Chris Steiner said in a recent phone interview, “it’s very clear, when the price of gas goes up, especially in an acute fashion, you see spikes in ridership” (Steiner 2012). People were shocked when the price of gas jumped. It forced them to change their habits. 


Many looked to public transportation because it offered a way out of having to pay 50 dollars plus to fill up the gas tank. As Marie Montgomery, spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California said, “You add up the gas bills over the year, and even if it drops to $1 a gallon by the end of the year, you’ve probably paid more for gas this year than any other year” (Petix). Especially with the economy plummeting, Americans needed to save money. With gas prices skyrocketing, mass transit seemed like the most viable way to cut costs. A similar occurrence was in the 70s when gas was rationed.


This was the largest reason for people riding mass transit over driving.

Going "Green"

Environmental consciousness has been at the forefront of society for a while and it helped create the rise of use in public transit from 2003 to 2008. While the environmental movement isn’t new, it cannot be marginalized. Going "green" has been a term that I've heard since birth. The public of the 21^st century is definitely well aware of the benefits of mass transit towards the environment: “Transit has been sold as a way to solve…air quality and other environmental problems and make places more livable” says Genevieve Giuliano of University of Southern California’s School of Policy, Planning and Development (Bellitteri,52).  One of the ways mass transit is “sold” or advertised is to appeal towards people’s desire to be environmentally friendly. 

According to the APTA, each year transit cuts “4.2 billion gallons of gasoline and carbon dioxide emissions by 37 million metric tons” (19). This is over a year however. 20 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions can be trimmed by a single day of riding transit rather than driving (Bellitteri, 62). That’s a lot of pollution saved riding mass transit, not something easily pushed to the background. Thus, while environmental consciousness was not the largest force behind the mass transit boom in 2008, it is an important one. 

But, was going "green" a big enough push for people to move to mass transit?

Off To Work

The high employment rates of 2003 to 2007 set the upward trend in ridership of public transportation because the majority of riders on public transit are commuting to work. According to the American Public Transportation Association, or APTA, 59.2% of riders are going to work. Since the majority of riders are commuting to their job an increase of employment would create an increase in the amount of riders on public transportation and vice versa. Starting in July of 2003 unemployment rates began to decrease. The percentages stayed low until they began to increase at the introduction of 2008 (Unemployment Rate). This increase in employment created the upward slope in the use of public transit from 2003 to 2007. Starting in 2003, the number of riders was just under 9.75 million. The ridership increased to just less than 11 million in 2008 (Laskow). Spikes like that of 2008’s have been seen throughout history, namely the 1940s.

During World War II, there was a public transportation boom much like 2008’s; this boom was because unemployment rates dropped after the Great Depression. After the 30s, employment rose an incredible amount at the start of World War II in December of 1941: “Suddenly, America was back on the job, with factory workers boarding streetcars, subways, and buses to get to defense plants making bullets, ships and airplanes” (Bellitteri, 57). To get to the factories, workers used mass transit. Public transit rose steeply in the 40s, as seen in the figure at the right, which is a graph that depicts the ridership annually from 1917 to 2011. Transit ridership rose because it is tied to the rise and fall of employment seen in both 21^st century and the 40s. Part of the staggering rise in public transit also can be attributed to the fact that most people didn’t own cars yet, “even in the 1950s people didn’t own a lot of cars,” says Virginia Miller, an APTA spokeswoman. It wasn’t until the 60s that cars grew in numbers (Beutler). However, the 1940s spike in ridership shows the connection between employment and the amount of people riding public transportation.

How was there still a spike in ridership in 2008 if employment had begun to decrease?

A Jump in Transit (2008)

“Americans [drove] 100 billion fewer miles in 2008 than they did in 2007,” said Chris Steiner in his book, $20 Per Gallon (29). Normally, each year Americans drive more miles than the previous year. If you graphed the number of miles driven each year it would look somewhat like a staircase, always moving up. Since the invention of the automobile, America has turned into a car-obsessed nation. 


The automobile holds a promise to discover new places with the luxury the pilgrims never had. Instead of cloth-covered wagons we now have plush, leather boxes on wheels. Our new discoveries are done with style and comfort. The comfort of adventures in cars allows for more journeys to be taken. So why would automobile miles drop?

As automobile miles dropped, the amount of people riding public transportation spiked. Looking at the graph at the right, a graph that depicts mass transit ridership from 1995 to 2011, there was a steady incline from 2003 to 2007. In 2008, however, there was a large jump up to 10,407 billion riders (Beutler). Over the next month or so I will be delving into the nitty-gritty details of why people would drive 100 billion fewer miles and hop on to mass transit instead.


I believe the steady incline of ridership in public transportation from 2003 to 2007 is due to a decrease in unemployment and a deepening interest in the environment; this along with high gas prices created the dramatic spike in 2008.