This week, the American Public Transportation Association released their ridership numbers for the first quarter (January through March) of 2009, and confirmed something that we’ve been suspecting: Despite facing a dismal economy, deep cuts in service, and painful fare increases, Americans are continuing to use public transportation in near record numbers. As we’ve been documenting [...]

Policy may get made here in Washington, but transportation, mobility and safety are truly local issues. The kinds of transportation investments that we’re pushing for aren’t luxuries — they’re essential necessities that help Americans get where they need to go, safely and affordably. It’s high time that we made sure we invested in a transportation system that is safe and accessible for everyone. So why is access to transportation choices and safe, complete streets so important?

In a four-minute segment last week, CNN used Transportation for America’s handy map — which we created to document the 85 communities that are being forced to either cut service, increase fares, or lay off workers due to budget crises at the local and state level — and took an in-depth look at some of the impacts of cutting back public transportation at a time when Americans are riding transit in record numbers.

We’ve hit a grim new milestone in our search for transit cuts. Transportation for America has now found 80 communities across the United States cutting service, raising fares, or laying off workers to cope with slashed budgets and growing deficits. In nearly every instance we’ve found, there’s a similar pattern — while declining state and federal aid, paired with decreasing revenue, pushes a local transit agency to make cuts, while ridership remains at all time high as residents look for cleaner and more affordable ways to get to work or go to the store.

We knew when we put it together that our list of transit agencies facing fiscal crises was not going to be exhaustive. And as soon as it went live, we heard from a number of you with information on other systems that we either didn’t know about or couldn’t find information on. So thanks to Hugh, Richard, Jef, Randy, and Jeff, we now have 51 systems covered in the map, representing almost 21 million daily trips by everyday Americans.

With ridership at record highs, transit agencies across the country are facing unprecedented fiscal crises in this economic downturn, leading to potential job losses, service cuts and fare hikes that are hitting at the worst possible time, a new compilation of nationwide data shows.

Perhaps you’ve already seen the news in your local paper. Even as ridership is spiking — perhaps even the highest of all time — your local transit system is talking about having to cut service, raise fares, or even lay off workers to cope with the struggling economy. We’ve created a map compiling the potential and proposed cuts to public transportation systems in 38 communities across the country.

The Indianapolis Star looks at the city’s plans to increase bus fares and reduce service, criticizing the fact that “the nation’s 12th-largest city has allowed the core of its mass transit system to dwindle to 99th in size.”

Budget cuts are hitting transit hard in Vermont, despite the increasing popularity of Amtrak and other public transportation agencies.

For public transportation in California, the hits keep coming — facing overflowing ridership  and record costs, transit agencies must now deal with a $952 million-dollar cut in funding by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The state’s budget for roads and highways does not face a similar cutback. (San Francisco Chronicle — Rachel Gordon)