Public transportation ridership rose 37 percent from 1995 to 2013. That's a good thing, right?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siaDqubNUWE&w=600&h=315]

The conventional logic says that public transportation will rise as gas prices rise (basic economic situation there). That seemed to be the case in the 1950s in some cities, but now -- via data from the American Public Transportation Association (which is admittedly an advocacy group) -- it…