Certainly, as we think about ridership being tied to funding, it's important from an economic perspective. It's important to understand it from a utility perspective, where it is providing service. Ridership has been used as an indicator of demand for some time. However, it's not the only measure of benefit. It's of benefit to the users, but transit provides many more community benefits, from reducing congestion to reducing greenhouse gases to contributing to public health.
While ridership has been a key measure of utility, it's not the only measure of the success of a transit system in a community.