Mallon: Building momentum toward a better future for public transit

Every morning, my day starts the same way. My alarm goes off, I get ready for work, walk to the bus stop and wait for the bus to work.

It’s a routine I’ve repeated thousands of times over the years, even as my destination has changed. Some mornings the bus is nearly empty. Other mornings, I’m riding alongside students heading to school, people commuting to work and familiar faces I’ve seen countless times.

After thousands of hours waiting at bus stops, sitting on trains and walking to connections, I’ve come to believe that you see a different version of our cities from a bus seat than behind a steering wheel.

And lately, I’ve noticed something else: more people are riding.

For years after the pandemic, the story of Bay Area transit was one of empty buses and trains, declining ridership and a very uncertain future.

That story is changing.

Caltrain recorded more than 12.5 million rides during the past fiscal year, with average weekday ridership growing nearly 37%. BART ridership grew 13%, and June was its busiest month since the pandemic.

This summer, tens of thousands of riders got onto VTA, BART, and Caltrain for the World Cup matches at Levi’s Stadium, breaking ridership records.

Those numbers can often feel abstract, but as a daily rider, I’ve watched buses get busier, seen platforms fill up and experienced service improvements that are bringing riders back.

That’s worth celebrating this September during Transit Month in the Bay Area. And more importantly, it’s worth building on.

The lesson of the past few years isn’t that transit is doomed. It’s that investment matters.

Caltrain electrification brought faster, more frequent service from San Jose to San Francisco, and ridership followed. When agencies increased service for major events, residents and visitors packed buses and trains.

None of this means that Bay Area transit is perfect. Anyone who rides transit regularly can tell you where service needs to be faster, more frequent and more reliable.

But the direction matters.

This Transit Month, I’d encourage people who haven’t ridden recently to give transit another try. Take the train to a game or event. Ride a bus to work one day. See what’s changed and think about what would make you ride more often.

Transit agencies in the Bay Area have spent the past few years rebuilding transit ridership and improving service and safety. Now isn’t the time to lose that momentum.

After thousands of hours riding transit in good times and bad, I’ve learned that more people take transit when we give them a system worth using.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll be back at my usual bus stop, and I’ll increasingly have more people riding with me.

After many struggles and challenges, the Bay Area is finally building momentum toward a better future for transit. We shouldn’t stop now.