Because it makes navigating cities easier, more affordable and more environmentally friendly for attendees, public transportation often is a major consideration when meeting planners are choosing destinations. If you're looking for a city that's as accessible as it is attractive, you might be interested in a list of the "10 Best Cities for Public Transportation," published recently by U.S. News and World Report.
Based on an analysis of data from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) — which says the number of public transportation systems in the United States has increased more than sevenfold in the last 30 years, from 1,044 in 1980 to 7,700 in 2009 — the best cities in the country for public transportation are:
1. Denver-Aurora, Colo.
2. New York-Newark, N.Y.-N.J.-Conn.
3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.
4. Boston, Mass.-N.H.-R.I.
5. Portland, Ore.
6. (tie) San Jose, Calif.
6. (tie) Salt Lake City, Utah
8. San Diego, Calif.
9. Seattle, Wash.
10. Honolulu, Hawaii
Other major cities ranked were Washington, D.C., which ranked 11th; San Francisco, which ranked 13th; and Chicago, which ranked 14th. Though all three of these systems had relatively high ridership and public investment, U.S. News said, they also experienced far more safety incidents — such as collisions, derailments and fires — per million trips than the cities in the top 10.
The rankings take into account per capita spending on public transportation, number of safety incidents per million trips and the number of trips taken per capita. Cities with higher spending, fewer incidents and greater ridership received better rankings.