on a Tuesday in downtown Seattle, Sherwin Lee stands at a bus stop on 2nd Avenue, just a few blocks uphill from a glimmering Puget Sound. Seattle and its surrounding suburbs became a poster child for getting transit right by investing in expanded bus service and extending light rail.Īt about 4 p.m. While the Emerald City’s population grew more than 20% over the last decade, the share of commuters who drove alone to work shrank by almost 10%. One of the few places that bucked that trend was the Seattle metro area. By 2019, bus ridership had fallen to levels not seen since the mid-1970s.
Two and half years into the pandemic, public transit ridership is still down about 40% from pre-COVID levels nationally.īut it’s important to remember that fewer and fewer Americans were getting on transit even before the pandemic hit.
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