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Public Transportation Drives Pennsylvania

A Study of the Economic Benefits of Public Transportation1

The Impact of Transit on Commerce

  • Public transportation carries over one million employees and customers to businesses every day
  • Public transportation systems directly employ approximately 15,000 people
  • Reduced congestion helps control transportation costs and travel time for businesses (saves the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania $7.6B annually)

Economic Benefits to Users

  • Public transportation users in Pennsylvania would incur an additional expense of $1.452B annually if they were forced to find other means of transportation and many would have no alternative at all

Economic Benefits to Non-Users

  • Reduces congestion and driving time
  • If public transportation disappeared, highway users in Pennsylvania 's 21 urbanized areas would pay $1.3B more annually to operate their vehicles
  • Lessens demand for parking lots/garages in large urbanized areas allowing land in central business districts to be utilized for private economic investment

Roadways

  • Trucking industry growth has increased wear and costs for local road and bridge maintenance

Public Transportation: A Lifeline in Rural Pennsylvania

  • Rural traffic grew by 30% from 1990 to 2002 (measured by vehicle miles traveled)
  • More than 1.6 million rural households in the United States do not have cars
  • In Pennsylvania , riders pay 24% of the cost in rural areas (compared with urban areas, where riders pay more than 45% of the cost of transit)

History of Public Transportation Capacity in Pennsylvania

  • Pennsylvania public transportation agencies provide more than 300 million rides annually - that is more than one million rides on an average weekday
  • Pennsylvania transportation agencies provide 3 million trips annually to people with disabilities on paratransit
  • More than 40 million seniors ride free or at low cost on buses, vans, trolleys, inclines and trains annually

Environmental Impact

  • Public transportation produces 95% less carbon monoxide, more than 92% fewer volatile organic compounds and nearly half as much carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides than the auto for every passenger mile traveled
  • Public transportation uses half the fuel of private autos, SUV's and light trucks, freeing fuel for moving goods, industry and agriculture

Air Quality 2

  • Every summer during smog season, smog sends 10,000 Pennsylvanians to hospital emergency rooms
  • Pennsylvanians suffer 370,000 smog-related asthma attacks every year

Impacts of Rail Transportation on Property Values 3

  • People would like to have more opportunities to walk and bicycle
  • Walkable communities and transit oriented developments can help improve quality of life and reduce stress
  • People are eager to live in traditional neighborhoods with direct access to public transportation and are willing to pay a premium for the convenience
  • Mixed-use projects create more leasable square footage, resulting in higher income and higher property values; dense development results in higher sales per square foot, justifying higher rents

 

  1. These facts derive mostly from the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association's publication, "A Study of the Economic Benefits of Public Transportation."  For a complete copy of the document, visit www.ppta.net/pdf/economic_study.pdf .
  2. http://www.pennfuture.org
  3. http://www.anupa.org/benefits.php
 
       

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by Vladimir Mollov
e-mail: vmollov@hotmail.com