As we’ve been documenting on our transit cuts page and interactive map, nearly 100 transit agencies have already cut service, raised fares, laid off workers — or are considering cuts of some kind to cope with the severe budget crises facing counties, towns and cities across the country. Nevertheless, as the new report from APTA shows, total ridership reached 2.6 million in the first three months of 2009 — nearly matching last year’s record numbers — and proving that public transportation is critical to American’s livelihood, even if it has become less accessible and affordable for many.

While these cutbacks have caused many agencies to lose some riders, many others are doing more than just hanging on in these tough times:

• King County Department of Transportation in Seattle reported a 16.8% increase in light rail ridership, despite increasing fares earlier this year.
• The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston logged a 5.4% increase in ridership on its commuter rail system, in spite of a budget crisis that is prompting talks of a 15 to 20% fare increase, along with service cuts.
• The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System experienced a 5.3% jump in ridership on its bus system, despite eliminating numerous bus routes and cutting others earlier this year.

While this crisis is causing extreme hardship for many agencies, most of them (specifically, those that service metro areas with more than 200,000 people) are not allowed to use federal dollars to help run their buses and rail systems. Congress recently approved legislation that allows 10 percent of the stimulus funds to be used on operating assistance, but this will not continue once those recovery funds run out.

U.S. Representative Russ Carnahan of St. Louis — one of the cities hardest hit by transit cuts — is sponsoring a bill that would allow transit agencies to plug the holes in their operating budgets with federal dollars on a permanent basis. Let’s make sure we get behind Rep. Carnahan and the others are working to rebuild our economy with a revitalized transportation system.

For the millions of Americans who waited for a bus last year to find it filled to capacity or boarded the subway train and saw it packed with fellow commuters, one thing should come as no surprise: 2008 was an incredible year for public transportation.

The American Public Transportation Association now has the numbers to prove it, and if anyone is doubting that people across the country are looking for cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient ways to get around their communities, they should probably take a look at these figures:

• Americans took nearly 10.7 billion trips on public transportation in 2008, a four percent increase over 2007 and the highest level since 1956.
• Public transportation use increased 38 percent since 1995 — nearly triple the growth rate of the population of the United States.
• Total vehicle-miles traveled dropped in 2008 by 3.6 percent, according to the U.S. DOT.

Incredibly, these record numbers are being met with one trend at transit agencies across the country — service cuts, layoffs, and fare increases — that’s hitting Americans in their pocketbooks as they look to lead the way on creating a 21st century transportation program. When tied to our preferences for more and better options and recent growth in the urban cores of our large metropolitan regions, the surge in transit ridership should sends an overwhelmingly powerful message to Congress and the Obama Administration.

David Goldberg, the communications director for the Transportation for America campaign, gave us a clear idea of what that message should be in a statement to the New York Times:

“This is the leading edge,” Mr. Goldberg said, “of a continuing surge in demand for public transportation and more walkable neighborhoods as the population ages, convenience and access become more critical and gas prices remain volatile.”

While heightened investment in our transportation system is absolutely critical to help us rebuild our economy and our infrastructure, money alone will not solve our problems. We need a commitment — from Congress and the White House — to move beyond the current, 1950s-era federal transportation program and build an American transportation system that will help us compete and thrive today and tomorrow.