Abstract
Transit ridership in California is on the wrong track. Patronage plunged staggeringly, from 50% to as much as 94%, during the first half of 2020 amidst the worst global pandemic in a century. While such ridership losses are extraordinary — and hopefully short-lived —all was not well for public transit in the 2010s either. Despite spending billions since 2000 to improve and expand public transit across the Golden State, ridership mostly lagged for six years leading up to the extraordinary events of 2020. Researchers at UCLA have been examining these pre-pandemic ridership doldrums and what might be behind them, in the hopes of elucidating how transit agencies can best emerge from the public health crisis.