WASHINGTON, Sept 9: Millions of Americans ditched their cars and rode public transportation in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2007 as high petrol prices continue to eat a hole in their wallets, a report showed on Tuesday.

Between April and June, Americans took 2.83 billion trips on public transportation compared with 2.69 billion in the same three months last year, the report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) showed.

“We’ve seen this huge surge in gas prices and people have said: ‘You know what? I have to find a way to save money,’” said APTA spokeswoman Virginia Miller.

“What’s happening is, we’re seeing a change in the travel behaviour of Americans, as more and more realise that taking public transportation is a quick way to beat high gasoline prices and save money,” she added.

The average price paid for a gallon (3.78 liters) of petrol in the United States in the last week of June was $4.08, according to the Energy Information Administration.

That was up from an average $2.81 per gallon in 2007, a year during which US public transportation ridership reached a record 10.3 billion passengers, according to APTA.

“That was the highest number of trips taken on US public transportation in 50 years,” she said.

With ridership numbers growing by 5.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2008 compared with 2007, the record was likely to be broken again this year, she said, as Americans continue to leave the car in the garage and take public transportation instead.

The surge in numbers using public transportation was “remarkable, since an economic downturn usually causes fewer people to ride public transit,” because of job losses, said APTA president William Millar.

Some 605,000 US jobs have been shed since the start of 2008 as the United States struggles with a horrific housing slump and a suffocating credit squeeze.

According to a study published in May last year by APTA, nearly 60 per cent of US public transportation users are commuters.

While public transportation numbers climb, the number of miles travelled on the roads has been falling.

People in the United States drove 12.2 billion fewer miles in June 2008 than June 2007, the Federal Highways Administration said in a report issued last month.

The fall in vehicle miles travelled was also the fault of high fuel prices, FHA transportation specialist Steven Jessberger said—AFP