Sources of and Gaps in Data for Understanding Public Transit Ridership

Project ID:

LA2033

Year Completed:

2021

Funding Source:

Statewide Transportation Research Program

Project Description

This project presents and reviews the available sources of data on public transit riders and ridership, as a resource for those who manage or simply wish to understand U.S. transit. In conducting this review, the researchers consider the advantages and disadvantages of publicly available data on transit from a variety of public and private sources, as well the relatively scarcer and less available sources of data on other providers of shared mobility, like ride-hail services, that compete with and complement public transit and pieces missing from the transit analytics pie. Data gaps both align with existing inequities and enable them to continue, unmeasured, as the COVID-19 pandemic has made closing these gaps all the more important.

Brian D. Taylor (PI)

Professor; UCLA ITS Director

btaylor@ucla.edu

Research Team

Jacob L. Wasserman

Program Area(s):