Data preparation and methods for assessing U.S. transit ridership trends

Abstract

Facing recent transit ridership declines, researchers and practitioners have been seeking new ways to understand and document transit trends. This thesis explores three methods of data preparation for use in transit data analysis. First, agencies are analyzed against peer agencies. Next, a method is developed to compare transit data to census data at the metropolitan level. Finally, case study agencies are identified that have interesting trends or methods to combat declines, and their recent ridership is compared with service level and reliability data.