Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

VULNERABILITIES: PUBLIC TRANSIT
Currently, public transit comprises a small slice of the transportation pie. Only a small
portion of the population makes use of it. As discussed earlier, only 2.8 percent of all work
commutes are on public transit. 160 Similarly, a study conducted by the Indiana Department
of Transportation in 2008 found that public transportation serves just 1.4 percent of all
Bloomington’s travel demands. 161
1. Fuel prices will be volatile and will increase.
While transit is often seen as an alternative to driving when gas prices are high, it is
important to remember that transit itself is vulnerable to increased fuel costs and
decreased revenue. According to a recent article in The New York Times, “more people used
transit in 2008 than in any year since 1956,” but at the same time, many “transit systems
across the country are raising fares and cutting service as the tax revenue they rely on
plummets during the recession.” 162 This constitutes a problem, considering that extreme
swings in fuel prices are expected to continue as petroleum supplies diminish worldwide.
As discussed earlier, high fuel prices are predicted to drive demand destruction and stifle
economic activity, leading to recessions and wild price fluctuations.
In 2008, as fuel prices soared, BT was forced to reduce the frequency of its service on some
campus routes. This was because IU was not able to increase its contributions to BT to keep
up with fuel costs. IU is only able to commit to a reimbursement schedule on a biannual
basis, due to its state‐mandated budgeting process. BT could not receive additional funding
from IU in a non‐budget year. The IU campus bus system itself also reduced service due to
the same budgeting process dilemma.
160 2000 U.S. Census
161 This compares to a “transit share” of 0.4 percent in the Indianapolis metro area. Overall, in Indiana, the
current urban transit mode share for Indiana is 0.46 percent of all trips. Indiana Department of
Transportation, December 2008, Executive Summary, Indiana Mass Transit Studies PL 203‐2007.
162 Michael Cooper, “Transit Use Hit Five‐Decade High in 2008 as Gas Prices Rose,” The New York Times,
March 9, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/us/09transit.html?_r=1
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