U.S. fuel thirst deepens despite more mass transit

NEW YORK — Lofty gasoline prices have helped push U.S. public transit ridership to the highest level since the country spawned its highway system in the 1950s — but the growth is not enough to drive down demand for motor fuel any time soon.

U.S. public transportation use rose to 10.1 billion rides last year, the most since 1957, when President Dwight Eisenhower signed the interstate highway bill into law, according to the American Public Transportation Association, an industry group.


The trend toward public transit has been driven in part by high retail gasoline prices, which have hit levels above $3 per gallon each summer since hurricanes damaged oil production and refineries along the Gulf of Mexico in 2005.

Ridership grew nearly 3 percent last year, an acceleration from the 30 percent it grew since 1995.

“There’s no question, with the price of gasoline where it is, you’re seeing people testing the transit waters and finding out whether it works for them or not,” Alan Pisarski, author of the “Commuting in America” series for the National Academies, said in an interview.

Reuters