U.S. mass-transit trips up so far in '08

Gas prices have been sinking since July, but thus far the number of mass transit trips taken across the United States continues to surpass last year's totals and is on record pace, according to industry figures released this week.

In 2007, about 10.3 billion trips were taken on mass transit in the U.S., according to the American Public Transportation Assn., a trade group that represents transit agencies. That was the most in 50 years, according to the group. Through three quarters of this year, more than 8.3 billion trips have been taken and every month but one (March) has seen more trips than in '07, as the accompanying chart shows.

(Read more after the jump)

-- Steve Hymon

In APTA's view, the most significant number is that transit trips in the third quarter of this year were 8.45% more than in the third quarter in 2007. The average price of a regular gallon of gas peaked nationally in mid-July at $4.11 a gallon, according to AAA. The free fall was well underway in September and the current average price is $1.68.

In other words, APTA believes people who are shifting to mass transit are sticking with it.

The numbers have been more mixed on a local level and there are some suggestions that traffic is up as gas prices decrease. The largest transit agency in the Southland, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, set ridership records in July and has since seen its ridership numbers slightly ebb. On the other hand, both the Orange County Transportation Authority and Foothill Transit set ridership records in October.