2000 CENSUS BRIEF
St. Louis Public Transport Market Share Down 38%
Despite Opening Light Rail
Now More People Work at Home than Ride Transit

21 November 2001: Data just released by the US Census Bureau indicates that public transit's work trip market share dropped 38 percent from 1990 to 2000. This is an improvement from the 49 percent loss sustained in the 1980s.

The loss flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that light rail is an effective strategy for reducing traffic congestion. St. Louis opened a new light rail line in 1993 that has among the highest ridership among new US light rail lines, averaging more than 40,000 daily riders during the period that the Census Bureau survey was taken.

Transit not only lost market share, but also actual commuters. The total number of transit commuters in the St. Louis metropolitan area fell from 32,000 in 1990 to 21,000 in 2000. Since 1960, transit commuting has fallen nearly 100,000, while other modes have increased more than 430,000 (mostly automobile). Transit's market share loss from 1960 is nearly 90 percent.

Single occupant automobile commuting continued to expand, garnering 128 percent of commuters. All other modes combined lost market share. Car pooling fell at a lower rate than transit, while there was a slight gain among those working at home. In fact, for the first time, the number of people working at home exceeds the number riding transit to work.

The 2000 data is from the Census Supplemental Survey and should be viewed as preliminary. Official 2000 census data on the journey to work will be released in 2002.

TABLE 1 1990 2000 1990 Share 2000 Share
Drive Alone 913,303 1,000,861 79.81% 82.55%
Car Pool 137,883 129,951 12.05% 10.72%
Transit 32,392 21,313 2.83% 1.76%
Walk 24,603 20,131 2.15% 1.66%
Other 8,972 10,322 0.78% 0.85%
Work Trips 1,117,153 1,182,578 97.63% 97.53%
         
Work at Home 27,152 29,897 2.37% 2.47%
Total 1,144,305 1,212,475 100.00% 100.00%

TABLE 2 Market Share Change Actual Change Percentage Change Share of New Trips
Drive Alone 3.4% 87,558 9.6% 128.4%
Car Pool -11.1% (7,932) -5.8% -11.6%
Transit -37.9% (11,079) -34.2% -16.3%
Walk -22.8% (4,472) -18.2% -6.6%
Other 8.6% 1,350 15.0% 2.0%
Work Trips -0.1% 65,425 5.9% 96.0%
         
Work at Home 3.9% 2,745 10.1% 4.0%
Total 0.0% 68,170 6.0% 100.0%

TABLE 3 1960 2000 Change 1960 Share 2000 Share Change in Share
Employment 781,822 1,212,475 430,653      
Transit Commuters 120,124 21,313 (98,811) 15.36% 1.76% -88.6%

(c) 2001 www.publicpurpose.com --- Wendell Cox Consultancy --- Permission granted to use with attribution.
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