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Yes, there's data on vehicle revenue miles. Interestingly, Atlanta used to get a lot more riders per vehicle mile. Now not so much.

Vehicle revenue miles for Atlanta and Seattle regions.

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One key explanation for the difference in transit ridership between Seattle and Atlanta: Spending. On a per-capita basis in 2024, transit agencies in the Seattle urban area spent almost 6 times as much on transit as those in the Atlanta urban area. www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...

Funding for transit, per capita, Seattle and Atlanta urban aras.

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Yes, it looks like Wenatchee, Kennewick, Olympia, and Spokane all have ridership levels that are higher than pre-pandemic.

Ridership by urban area, Washington state urban areas, compared to January 2020. 12-month rolling totals.

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In the early 2000s, transit ridership levels in the Atlanta and Seattle urban areas were quite similar. Since then, the two regions have experienced dramatic change: While Seattle's ridership is 70% higher than back then, Atlanta's is 40% lower. www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...

Monthly transit ridership, by urban area, Atlanta and Seattle.

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Ridership on the nation's metro systems continues to improve steadily, if slowly. Best-performers Miami and New York are about 86% of pre-pandemic ridership levels. LA got a small boost in ridership when the D Line extension opened in May—but not much. www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...

Change in transit ridership from 2020, rolling 12-month totals, US metro systems.

Change in transit ridership from 2020, monthly totals, Los Angeles metro system.

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Key to Seattle's ridership success is the explosion in use of its light rail, now >2.5x higher than it was pre-pandemic. San Diego has also brought riders back to light rail. But Denver has less than half the light rail ridership it had back then. www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...

Transit ridership, monthly, on light rail lines, by US urban area.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 05/09/2026

The latest transit data, for July, show that the Seattle urban area now has the best ridership recovery of all large US regions. That's especially true over the past few months, as the region has had routinely higher ridership than pre-pandemic. www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...

Transit ridership recovery from January 2020, on a rolling 12-month basis.

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Hard to reconcile the supreme court’s seemingly permanent conservative majority with the past 35 years of the country almost always leaning democratic www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/u...

Percent of registered voters who identify with or lean toward a party

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 02/09/2026

Other US cities with extensive light rail networks have done better or worse on this metric, with Seattle arguably doing the best job building stations in its dense neighborhoods (especially if the Ballard line is ever built). www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/nei...

Population and jobs density, plus rail transit lines, in San Diego.

Population and jobs density, plus rail transit lines, in Portland.

Population and jobs density, plus rail transit lines, in Seattle.

Population and jobs density, plus rail transit lines, in St. Louis.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 02/09/2026

Denver has built out a lengthy rail network. Unfortunately, other than downtown, the system's stations fail to serve the neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of jobs and residents. That's because many of the rail lines are built along highways. www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/nei...

Denver's population and jobs density versus its rail transit network.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 01/09/2026

Congrats to the Chicago region for today's launch of NITA, the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which will coordinate operations by CTA, Metra, and Pace... and hopefully result in better service for riders nita.illinois.gov

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 31/08/2026

Definitely an improvement, but you can see here some of the issues that will inevitably arise with this sort of bus lane design: —Cars turning right will block the bus and/or get in the bus lane. —Because parked cars are to the right of the bus lane, they'll block buses when people are parking.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 31/08/2026

On average between 2018 and 2025, some 9,000 deaths each year in the United States were impacted by heat—far more than reported in official government statistics. Climate change is increasing the death toll.

Official records may vastly undercount hear-related deaths.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 29/08/2026

Just finished this beautifully illustrated book—Transportation and the Shape of Cities—on transportation design & policy by @christofspieler.bsky.social & colleagues bookshop.org/p/books/tran...

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That said, data show that the metropolitan area as a whole—including city and suburbs—has been moving toward less driving to work since 1990!

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Yes! Here are the metro and county level data. All available on the website: www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...

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Milwaukee had a substantial decline in drive-alone mode share during and after the pandemic, but was going in the wrong direction before then.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 24/08/2026

In some big cities—like New York, Seattle, DC, Boston, SF & Portland—commuters are less & less likely to drive to work. The transformation was underway pre-Covid. The share of commuters driving in Seattle declined from 58.7% in 1990 to 36.6% now! www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...

Share of commuters traveling to work by driving alone, 1980–2024, New York, Seattle, DC, Boston, SF, and Portland.

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Why do Republicans in Washington often seem so hostile to funding public transit? One key explanation: Transit commuting is just much, much more common in areas that vote Democratic than areas that vote Republican, and it's been true for decades. www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/pol...

Share of workers commuting by transit vs. Democratic share of the presidential vote in 2024.

Average share of commuters using transit to get to work, by presidential vote margin in 2024.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 22/08/2026

How do transit systems align with local population and employment densities? In a new feature on Transport Databook, you can compare existing rail transit lines with neighborhood residential + job densities ➡️ www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/nei... [you can also annotate the maps if you want!]

Residential population and job densities, by census tract, showing rail transit lines, for San Francisco and Oakland.

Residential population and job densities, by census tract, showing rail transit lines, for Chicago and suburbs.

Residential population and job densities, by census tract, showing rail transit lines, for Washington, DC and suburbs.

Residential population and job densities, by census tract, showing rail transit lines, for Atlanta and suburbs.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 20/08/2026

The cohort of counties with the greatest support for Harris in 2024 presidential race had highest % of people commuting by transit, walking or biking. Inverse was true for counties with the strongest support for Trump, where driving to work predominated. www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/pol...

Share of commuters traveling to work by transit, walking, or biking, by presidential vote margin in 2024.

Share of commuters traveling to work by driving alone, by presidential vote margin in 2024.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 20/08/2026

How do changes in transportation commutes correlate with changes in political views? Among large US counties, a growing vote share for Dem presidential candidates, 2000 to 2024, was associated with: 1—less driving to work alone 2—more working from home www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/pol...

Changes in the share of commuters driving alone to work vs. change in the Democratic presidential vote share, 2000 to 2024. On average, a greater reduction in the share of people driving to work was associated with a greater increase in the Democratic vote share.

Changes in the share of commuters working from home vs. change in the Democratic presidential vote share, 2000 to 2024. On average, a greater increase in the share of people working from home was associated with a greater increase in the Democratic vote share.

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Electric vehicles are taking the world by storm…. Except in a few countries like the US, where they’re losing market share. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Electric vehicle market share by country

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Yes... but there's still a big gap to make up

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In June 2026, most large urban areas experienced substantially lower transit ridership than in June 2019. They're still suffering from the Covid slump. The exceptions, where transit ridership has essentially recovered: —Seattle —Salt Lake —San Diego www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...

Transit ridership by urban area, comparing per-capita levels in June 2026 vs. June 2019, for urban areas with at least 1 million residents.

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