I'm interpreting that chart as tracking the year on year percentage increase/decrease of the population and ridership.
So the population has more or less been increasing year on year since 2005, with a near zero decline prior to that.
The ridership has gone through a steep decrease which bottomed out at -35% in ~2005. Sure it's been decreasing less, but isn't it still decreasing? The ridership line is flat near the end, but isn't it still decreasing at more than 20% year on year?
How else can the chart be read? How am I reading it wrong?
The chart label of "% change since 2001" is pretty unclear, but based on the quote "ridership...has dropped a staggering 23 percent since 2001", it seems to mean "% difference from 2001", not "% change year-to-year, since 2001".
So the population has more or less been increasing year on year since 2005, with a near zero decline prior to that.
The ridership has gone through a steep decrease which bottomed out at -35% in ~2005. Sure it's been decreasing less, but isn't it still decreasing? The ridership line is flat near the end, but isn't it still decreasing at more than 20% year on year?
How else can the chart be read? How am I reading it wrong?