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Science 30 June 1989:
Vol. 244. no. 4912, pp. 1545 - 1549
DOI: 10.1126/science.244.4912.1545
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Articles

U.S. Transit Subsidy Policy: In Need of Reform

MARTIN WACHS 1

1 Professor and head of the Urban Planning Program, Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1467.

Public transit in the United States has depended increasingly on public subsidies since the inception ofthe federal mass transit assistance program in the early 1960s. The subsidies are associated with declining efficiency and labor productivity, as urban transit systems have overcapitalized, simplified fare structures, and extended service into sparse suburban markets. Despite these subsidies, transit has not proved successful in countering the effects on its market of increased automobile ownership and use and of decentralizaton of residences and places of employment.


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Governmental Subsidies for Public Transit: History, Current Issues, and Recent Evidence.
D. B. Hess and P. A. Lombardi (2005)
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Transit Availability and Automobile Ownership: Some Policy Implications.
D. Deka (2002)
Journal of Planning Education and Research 21, 285-300
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Commentary on "The Recent Popularity of Light Rail Transit in North America".
J. E. Moore II (1993)
Journal of Planning Education and Research 13, 50-53
Policy Implications of Recent Behavioral Research in Transportation Demand Management.
M. Wachs (1991)
Journal of Planning Literature 5, 333-341
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Research Policy and the Peace Dividend.
D. E. Koshland Jr. (1990)
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