The Benefits of Transit in the United States: A Review and Analysis of Benefit-Cost Studies

Analysis of available benefit-cost (b-c) ratio estimates for transit systems in the U.S. found wide variation among sources. Some differences can be attributed to population size and service area densities (context). Rural and small urban areas generally yielded lower b-c values than urbanized areas. However, differences remained even after context was accounted for, suggesting appropriate transit investments in rural and small urban areas can yield benefits substantially greater than costs.