Although driving in the United States stagnated from 2008 through 2013, mileage statistics from the Federal Highway Administration show driving in 2014 increased by 1.7 percent. Obviously, the drop in oil prices beginning in June 2014 that has lowered both gasoline and diesel prices has had a major effect on drivers’ use of their vehicles. High motor fuel prices have resulted in restricted use of vehicles, while low prices have accelerated their use. Also affecting increased driving in 2014 is that employment levels finally reached their January 2008 peak in April 2014, ending a more than 6-year employment trough—the longest since the Great Depression. Unfortunately for mass transit advocates, this driving hiatus did not increase the use of mass transit, despite the federal government using 16 percent of the federal gasoline tax revenue to subsidize mass transit.[ i] Transit ridership remains small, at approximately two percent of all trips and five percent of work trips.[ii]
