Are high gas prices driving people to transit?

With gas well over $4 for the past few months, and gas hard to find at any price in the Southeast lately, I often ask myself what impact it's having on transit ridership. Anecdotally, I have noticed more people on the trains during rush hour. But what are the real numbers?
MARTA recently reported that in the month of July, ridership on the overall system was up 13.2 percent (14 million boardings) over the same month last year. Ridership increased across the board for all modes of transit including increases of 12.9 percent (7.8 million boardings) for rail, 13.6 percent (6.2 million boardings) for bus, and 18.2 percent (37 thousand boardings) for MARTA's mobility paratransit service for seniors and disabled customers.
This does not include the impact of the recent gas shortages that we have experienced. I look forward to seeing those numbers. For more information about how to take advantage of transit in Atlanta go to http://www.itsmarta.com/.