Investigating the relationships among rising fuel prices, increased transit ridership, and CO2 emissions

The increase in US transit ridership in 2008 has been attributed to the increase in fuel price. This study investigates the extent to which the increase in fuel price influenced the use of transit and whether this in turn influenced the reduction in CO2 emissions. The results indicate that the number of transit trips in an urban area increases significantly with increase in fuel price. Change in fuel cost also has a negative association with emissions although changes in transit trips do not have significant association with CO2 emissions.

Research highlights
► In the US evidence from the late 2000s indicates that an addition of one dollar to average fuel costs increases transit trips by 484%.
► A unitary increase in transit cost per passenger mile reduces forecasted transit trips by 52.2%.
► A unitary rise in fuel price results in a decrease in CO2 emissions of 78,753 tons per month.