​In only three urban areas does transit's share of motorized travel rise to the level of significant . . .

Transit’s Share of Urban Travel in 2014

. . . in the rest, transit's share of motorized travel is vanishingly small. 

More below the fold.

"Transit carried 16.6 percent of motorized travel in Honolulu, more than in any other urban area in the country. New York is second at 11.9 percent, followed by San Francisco at 7.9 percent, Chicago at 4.0 percent, State College PA at 3.7 percent, Seattle at 3.5 percent, Lompoc CA at 3.3 percent, and Boston at 3.2 percent. Philadelphia, Salt Lake (but see below), Portland, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Louisville, and six smaller urban areas are between 2 and 3 percent, and 35 urban areas are between 1 and 2 percent. Transit’s share in the remaining 350 or so urban areas is less than 1 percent."

Here in Portlandia, the cacophony surrounding the "importance" of transit is astounding. Yet transit carries less than 2.5% of all motorized travel. This is a number so small that eliminating transit, would generally cause no change to the Portlandia metro area traffic. This is not quite true during rush hour, since, transit during the Portlandia metro area rush hour carries approximately 7.5% of motorized trips (about 11.9% of motorized trips in the city of Portland). 

Frankly, these numbers are surprisingly small for a city with bus, light rail, streetcar, tram, commuter rail, and heavy rail transportation modes. To make this even worse, the Portlandia transit system, Trimet, has been losing proportional ridership since the 1970s. The decline has been slow but steady. 

Transit is unimportant in the Portlandia metro area, but the politicians, and bureaucrats continue to act as if it is a critical component to the success of the Portlandia metro area. And they waste money on it like it is the most important component.