Total transit ridership, not just per capita, is declining today, having seen a 4.4 percent drop nationwide from 2014 to 2016 and a 3.0 percent drop in the first seven months of 2017 versus the same months of 2016.

Transit agencies should begin to prepare for an orderly phase-out of publicly funded transit services as ... driverless cars become available in the next decade.

Four trends that are likely to become even more pronounced in the future place the entire industry in jeopardy:

  1. Low energy prices
  2. Growing maintenance backlogs
  3. Unfunded pension and health care obligations
  4. Ride-hailing services. Some predict that within five years those ride-hailing services will begin using driverless cars.

Read the full article on public transit by Randal O'Toole at Cato Institute