Most previous studies that examine the controversies involved in transit subsidies concentrate on large metropolitan areas in the U.S. The main contribution of this paper to the extant literature is that it investigates bus ridership data in small- and medium-sized U.S. cities, which has been primarily ignored in earlier literature. The paper also analyzes data on bus commuters, subway commuters, and walkers to workplaces in the 8 largest cities with extensive subway systems and the 22 other large cities. The analysis employs the 2010 U.S. Census (IPUMS data). Generally, the characteristics of subway commuters are quite different from those of bus commuters. The characteristics of walkers in all the U.S. cities are very similar to those who commute by bus.