Spatial Dispersion, Declining Transit Ridership, and Increased Motorization

How Does Spatial Dispersion, Declining Transit Ridership, and Increased Motorization Affect Public Transit?

The economic concentration in the United States automobile industry led to the extension of motorization to the public transit industry (Snell, 1974; cited in Yago, 1983). By controlling supply contracts, bus, oil, and rubber manufacturers eliminated the competing electrical transit industry. Yago conducted a study of transit patterns of 31 US cities before and after the rise of the automobile which showed that this changing structure of concentration within the transportation industry resulted in increased spatial dispersion, declining transit ridership, and increased motorization (Yago, 1983, 180). Trade sources reveal, however, that motor buses, as opposed to electric street cars, are the least economical transit vehicles and that their predominance led to the financial and service decline of transit operating firms (St. Clair, 1981; cited in Yago, 1983).