Whether you use it or not, better public transit makes your commute better

You’re stuck in traffic again, late for work, watching brake lights stretch to the horizon. According to the most recent data in the U.S. (2024), here are some of the ways traffic jams are lowering the quality of life:

• Americans lost an average of an entire work week sitting in traffic.
• Commuter costs have surged 16% over the past five years to reach $269 billion annually.
• Congestion time for commuters has gone up 10% since 2019 and it’s 19% for trucks delivering all the products we buy. 
• Stress increases of 80%, and aggressiveness increases of 52%.
• Long stretches in traffic lead to back pain, leg pain, and headaches.

There’s no one solution to dealing with crowds of people all trying to move in the same direction at the same time, but there is one opportunity staring us all in the face that hardly any commuter seems to notice—public transit.

The power of public transit

If you’re like most drivers, public transit is for other people. But here’s the thing: investing in better buses and trains could make your commute faster and less stressful, without you ever setting foot on one. Maybe transit is for other people to ride, but it can help improve your car trips.

A surprisingly small drop in cars on the road—just 5-10%—can dramatically ease congestion, and public transit is one of the most effective ways to get that drop.

Congestion doesn’t increase linearly as the number of vehicles goes up. Streets handle car traffic just fine, until you cross a certain capacity threshold when everything quickly collapses. A transportation planning model developed in the 1960s quantifies this phenomenon. On a typical urban road running at 90% capacity:

• Baseline: About 10% delay over free-flow conditions
• 5% fewer cars (85% capacity): Delay drops by roughly 18%
• 10% fewer cars (81% capacity): Delay plummets by 35%

We’ve all experienced the exponential improvements in travel time from modest reductions in vehicle volume. If transit gives some commuters a viable alternative, your commute could save minutes each day without building a single new lane.

Transit helps people who don’t use transit

A transportation system that offers reliable and convenient public transit isn’t forcing you out of your car. There’s only so much space on the roads, and one bus can hold 40 or 50 people, replacing that many cars. One train can replace hundreds of cars. 

Transit already saves Americans 865 million hours in traffic delays annually. In dense urban areas, the potential is even greater.

Case study: New York

New York City’s decongestion zone offers a real-world example. By charging people who choose to drive into Manhattan’s core, the city reduced traffic volumes and delivered major wins: pollution fell, streets flowed better, and spillover congestion to outer areas decreased. And the people who drive themselves benefit from less crowded roads. 

You might be thinking “I will never use public transit, so why should I fund something I won’t use?” Whether or not you use public transit, think of it as an investment that delivers:

• Better travel times because fewer people are driving at the same time.
• Fewer crashes because fewer people are driving at the same time.
• Less stress on you because fewer people are driving at the same time.

Transportation systems work better when people have real choices. You might always opt for driving yourself, and that’s fine. But when others have practical alternatives like buses, trains, and subways, your drive is improved. Remember, if just 5-10% of people aren’t driving themselves, your experience on the roads can be dramatically improved.

The best thing for drivers might be investing in something they’ll never personally use, and it might be the fastest way to improve quality of life.