Subsidies and US urban transit ridership

In recent years, operating subsidies in the USA increased considerably in response to public concerns over traffic congestion and air quality. In a panel of more than 600 transit firms over the period from 1991 to 2012, we find no significant relationship between subsidy and ridership. We show that with a larger subsidy, a transit system operates a larger network but less intensively. At the same time, this subsidy influences service supply in such a way that the quality, as perceived by the traveller, suffers. This is reflected by lower costs of production.