Now, most new homes and jobs are located in the suburbs. Public transit agencies do a poor job moving people from suburb to suburb. They continue trying to funnel people downtown. I believe another reason for declining transit productivity is the growth of federal subsidies. They've been fueling the construction of public transit systems that are more and more expensive, and less and less productive.
Many cities seem to regard their new light rail systems as gifts from Washington.
But experience suggests that these federal gifts may prove to be more like a Trojan horse, or a White Elephant. They burden cities with significantly increased operating expenses and deficits, little or no gains in ridership, and few prospects for land use change. The 70's and 80's were not aberrations. Public transit's share of urban travel in this country has been declining for at least the last sixty years. The last year the industry actually covered all its operating expenses from the farebox was 1968.