Transit ridership and technology.

[Qhaberl]

If there is already a topic regarding this, feel free to merge and delete. I have been noticing how bus ridership numbers continue to decrease. It's not just happening in Minneapolis, but all over the country. Do you think that the use of smart phones, Google maps, Apple Maps, different transit apps, will increase transit ridership. Especially ridership on buses. My personal thought is that it will, but I am curious to see what the rest of the community thinks. It seems that transit ridership is so heavily tied to gas prices. That makes sense. I wonder though, as access to easy transportation information continues, will this cause ridership to increase?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Anondson]

I don't think it will have much effect at all. Far more is to improve frequency, quality of facilities, and signage and way finding around stops and stations.

I can see technology substituting for way finding and signage. Not much else though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Tcmetro]

Certainly technology has helped to make the ride predictable, but I think bus ridership has been trending down because of other forces, like decreased reliability and slow speeds.

Many cities haven't properly invested in bus infrastructure which means buses are traveling at record slow speeds across the country. Additionally the rise of Uber and Lyft have allowed transit riders who have some level of disposable income to abandon the bus. Even in the biggest, most congested cities, slow speeds and relatively low frequencies mean that bus trips take significantly longer than car trips.