Transit systems across the United States experienced an unprecedented, dramatic drop in ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic, as large shares of riders switched to working from home or started using other modes of transportation.
A few cities have been able to attract prepandemic ridership levels, in many cases thanks to stronger ridership on weekends. But the overall story remains grim. Nationwide, public transit trips declined by 23 percent in 2024 (PDF) compared with 2019 (PDF).
That’s a big problem for transit agencies, many of which face a “fiscal cliff” of inadequate revenues from low fare collection. This could force agencies to reduce service, which would further lessen ridership. Lower ridership is also difficult for cities, which suffer from higher traffic and worse air pollution because of lower public transit use. Increasing transit use should be a key goal of cities throughout the United States.
Recent research examining ridership on large rail systems around the world suggests the United States’ transit ridership challenges are hardly universal and that many of the largest urban areas in Asia and Europe have recovered their prepandemic ridership on rail lines. (The research didn’t explore outcomes on bus systems and midsize metropolitan areas, however.)
In this post, I compare public transit ridership in the US and France to show that most large and midsize French urban areas have increased overall ridership—including both bus and rail—beyond prepandemic levels. Key to their success has been a quick return to normal service and expanded high-quality travel options designed to serve dense urban neighborhoods.
Big US cities show a slow return of transit passengers, while many riders have returned in France
I examined data from the National Transit Database to track changes in ridership within the 25 most-populous US urban areas, annually, between 2015 and 2024. Because there is no equivalent national data source for France, I searched annual reports and contacted transit agencies for their ridership data and assembled information from 23 of the 25 most-populous urban areas.
These data paint a striking picture of contrasts. In the five years before the pandemic, transit ridership among the largest urban areas in the US was already declining, though there was an uptick in 2019. But among major urban areas in France, ridership increased by about 10 percent, on average, between 2015 and 2024.
The pandemic’s effects on transit were not as pronounced in France, either. Ridership declined by about 25 percent in 2020 compared with 2015 levels, but that decline was 50 percent in US urban areas.
Finally, ridership recovery in French urban areas has been much stronger. The average urban area I studied had slightly higher ridership in 2024 than in 2019—even as all of the large urban areas in the US struggle with ridership far below 2015, and even 2019, levels.
I also compared transit ridership per person in each urban area over time. All but six of the French urban areas had more rides per person in 2024 than in 2015. This was true in cities where the metro is the main form of transportation, such as Lille and Rennes; in cities where trams dominate, such as Bordeaux and Nice; and cities where buses are the backbone, such as Metz. Interestingly, the Paris region has been slower to gain back riders, though recent data suggest the city has now recovered its prepandemic ridership.
In US urban areas, the story couldn’t be more different. Every single one of the 25 cities studied had fewer per capita riders in 2024 than in 2015. Notably, the US urban areas were mostly starting off from a much lower number of rides per person than the French cities. The median urban area I studied in France had 121 transit rides per resident in 2024, compared with a median of 24 in the United States.
For the most part, US cities have fewer public transit options than before the pandemic
Differences in public transit ridership between the US and France have several potential explanations. One is that though France had more strongly enforced lockdowns during the pandemic, it also opened up much more when lockdowns were lifted. This may have reduced employees’ desire (or ability) to work from home. Indeed, a comparison between New York and Paris suggests that French cities have higher return-to-the-office rates than US cities.
In addition, ridership trends may be a result of the availability of higher-quality transit options. My examination of international data shows that among the US urban areas, the median had 1.9 kilometers of bus rapid transit, light rail, or metro service per 100,000 residents in 2010. These services provide faster, more-reliable options than regular bus service. In France, that figure was much higher, at 3.3 kilometers. This difference is growing because of more-concentrated transit investments in France. The median French urban area added 1.8 kilometers of those services since 2010, compared with just 0.5 kilometers among US urban areas.
A final possibility is that US transit agencies simply aren’t providing the level of service they used to. Among the 25 largest urban areas, only Dallas had more bus and train services operating in 2024 than in 2019. All the other areas saw declines—and sometimes quite substantial ones, such as in Denver. Less transit service overall will likely result in more potential passengers choosing to get into their cars.
Addressing the national ridership challenge requires a commitment to improved service
French cities’ successes in getting people back onto buses and trains is, to some degree, the product of different national cultures and a different economic environment than that in the United States. More employers who have encouraged or required their workers to come back to the office means more transit riders.
But these differences likely also result from different choices about transit service. French cities have built many more quality transit lines than US cities, and US transit agencies continue to provide less service than they did before the pandemic. Getting more people to ride public transit in the United States requires more and better transit options.
This situation puts transit agencies in a difficult position: How can they add service if they are already suffering from revenue shortfalls?
The answer is likely to have to come from state and local governments that can help fill the gap. They can target funding to transit agencies, both to build new rapid transit and rail lines and to maintain and expand regular service. These approaches will help get people back on the bus and train, reduce the traffic and pollutants associated with cars, and provide city residents with more high-quality, affordable transportation options.
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