--- description: Overall public transportation use grew 1.1% in 2013 to 10.7 billion passenger trips title: Americans taking public transportation reaches new high image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Public Transit Use At Highest Level Since 1956 by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 10, 2014 1:46 PM CUT by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 10, 2014 1:46 PM CUT Public transportation trips reached 10.7 billion last year, the greatest number of rides since 1956. Overall public transportation use grew 1.1% in 2013, and is up 37.2% from 1995 when transportation use outpaced population growth in the U.S., according to new data from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Last year was the eighth year in a row that over 10 billion trips were taken on public transportation across America. There were even more trips than in 2008 when gas prices rose to $4-$5 a gallon, and more Americans were opting out of driving, USA Today [reports](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/10/transit-ridership-grew-in-2013/6137911/ "undefined"). The APTA says economic recovery is a predominant reason for more transit rides, since public transportation use increases when more people have jobs. The APTA reports that about 60% of trips taken last year were people commuting to work. \[[_APTA_](http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/2014/Pages/140310%5FRidership.aspx "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/18135/public-transit-use-at-highest-level-since-1956/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/18135/public-transit-use-at-highest-level-since-1956/"},"headline":"Public Transit Use At Highest Level Since 1956","datePublished":"2014-03-10T13:46:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:40:39.074Z","description":"Overall public transportation use grew 1.1% in 2013 to 10.7 billion passenger trips","url":"https://time.com/18135/public-transit-use-at-highest-level-since-1956/","keywords":["Commute"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/18135/public-transit-use-at-highest-level-since-1956/","name":"Public Transit Use At Highest Level Since 1956"}}]}] ```