public transit

noun

variants: or British public transport

|Updated on: 18 Jun 2018

Definition of public transit

: mass transit

… an annoying little secret of suburban life is that, even with traffic congestion, it's almost always faster to get somewhere in a car than by riding public transit.
—Gregg Easterbrook

See public transit defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of public transit from the Web

Time The sun sets on Cambodia's newest public transit service.

— eli meixler / phnom penh, Time, "Riding the Rails: Phnom Penh's Airport Train Is a Milestone for Cambodia," 4 June 2018
Frequent listeners are consuming content — in the car, in their bedroom, at the gym, in the kitchen, on public transit and while just walking.

— sarah hauer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Companies stay on your mind with sponsored podcasts," 1 June 2018
Navya's partner for a number of these projects has been Keolis, a French company that operates a number of public transit services around the world.

— timothy b. lee, Ars Technica, "Self-driving technology is going to change a lot more than cars," 29 May 2018
The city of Vienna responded by improving public transit services, widening sidewalks, adding ramps to accommodate strollers and wheelchairs, improving street lights, and more.

— diana budds, Curbed, "How architecture can rebuild itself post #MeToo," 21 May 2018
Below is a chart showing annual ridership since the first year of the transit agency in 1976, formed with the merger of several municipal public transit services.

— rich exner, cleveland.com, "Greater Cleveland RTA ridership drops 9.5 percent to record low in 2017 - Statistical Snapshot," 19 Apr. 2018
Buy Photo The task seems simple enough: Create a public transit service linking Grays Ferry, Fairmount, and Brewerytown to the booming job market in University City.

— jason laughlin, Philly.com, "Here's what went into creating Philly's first new bus route in almost a decade," 25 Mar. 2018
Aside from the obvious environmental, public health, and congestion benefits of replacing car trips with bike trips, bike-sharing has a safety record that is unmatched by any other public transit system.

— alissa walker, Curbed, "Can dockless and station-based bike-share programs coexist?," 30 May 2018
If done correctly, that could also funnel more riders to public transit systems, which could add to city revenue and help with the growth and maintenance of those systems.

— conor friedersdorf, The Atlantic, "Fly On, My Sleek Electric Bird," 30 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'public transit.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.