Public transportation ridership has risen to a

Public transportation ridership has risen to a level not seen since 1960. New statistics from the American Public Transportation Association reveal that Americans took 9 billion trips on mass transit in 1999, up from a low of 6.5 billion trips in 1972, but still far from the peak figure of 23.4 billion trips in 1946. Compared with 1998, transit ridership rose 4.5 percent, while motor vehicle travel rose 2 percent. Subway systems accounted for the biggest rise in ridership with a growth of 6.47 percent, but use of buses, commuter rail, and other transit rose substantially as well. Among the factors driving this trend are increased federal funding for mass transit, a strong economy with low unemployment, and growing dissatisfaction with highway congestion. Some transit agencies have boosted ridership by introducing simplified fare systems or extending discounts. In Washington, D.C., Metro got rid of transfer fees, and four months later daily ridership was up by 13 percent.