Fuel Costs Strain Mass Transit

csmonitor.com — Even as more Americans pile onto city buses, subways, and suburban trains, fuel prices are also hitting transit agencies hard. In many cases this means fare hikes and service cuts. Nearly half of metropolitan bus operators surveyed by the American Public Transportation Association said they have increased prices to address the strains of rising fuel costs; 19 percent said they have reduced service. Fare hikes are hurting the poor disproportionately. While suburbanites are choosing mass transit, many of the nation's poorest urban dwellers, whose only option is often public transportation, aren't riding at all because of fare hikes. Because of the downturn in the economy, some no longer have jobs to commute to.

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