Article:Public transportation does relieve traffic congestion

[#Metro]

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/04/public-transportation-does-relieve-traffic-congestion-just-not-everywhere/5149/

[HappyTrainGuy]

....but not from the park and ride 

[hU0N]

While I don't doubt the validity of the data, it all seems rather misleading.

He compares long term average traffic counts to the traffic counts during a fairly short term disruption to transit services.  He then uses the short term traffic counts as an estimate of what the long term traffic counts would be if the transit system was shut down permanently.  Clearly this is quite a long bow to draw.

You might as well measure the one day traffic counts on a new motorway a month after it opens and use these to infer that the motorway has permanently reduced traffic congestion.