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This study analyses the structure of transit demand in Atlanta’s transit system to understand why different elements of the network appeal to bus and rail riders. By estimating direct demand models of work trip use between pairs of traffic analysis zones, the authors find that self-identified bus riders come from poorer areas having fewer autos per household and seek to reach jobs scattered throughout the metropolitan area. Their demand is highly elastic with respect to travel time. They care not about the presence of transit-oriented development (TOD) attributes at either origins or destinations. Self-identified rail riders primarily access transit by automobile and value fast service to within convenient walking distance of employment, such as in the central business district (CBD) and some but not all TODs. The results suggest that an agency could increase ridership by both groups using a core network of higher speed lines that provide access to decentralised employment centres. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Conventional wisdom suggests that the increasing decentralisation of population and employment in US metropolitan areas is to blame for declining public transit mode shares and deteriorating system productivity. Proponents of this view assert that transit performs best when it connects suburbs to central business districts in more centralised urban environments. Our time-series analysis of transit patronage in Atlanta suggests that the previously reported secular decline in transit patronage is attributable to employment decentralisation outside the MARTA service area but that this can be reduced if the transit system makes decentralising employment reachable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]