The northern tip of the Vermont Square neighborhood in South Los Angeles has gentrified in many of the usual ways over the last decade, median income shot up, the neighborhood's share of Black residents declined.

Some of the changes have been less obvious.

Between 2012 and 2017, public transit ridership fell in the census-designated track by 24%.

In that same period, the neighborhood-wide rent increased by an average of $468 per month.

That, according to UCLA researchers, is probably not a coincidence.

A study published late last year compared changes in transit ridership to rental market trends in neighborhoods across Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

It found that neighborhoods well-served by buses and trains, transit ridership tended to fall in places where rents were rising.

The most likely explanation, according to the researchers, is that as urban neighborhoods grow more costly, lower-income renters, the very people most likely to ride the bus, are pushed out and replaced by more affluent renters who tend to drive.

The findings suggest that gentrification isn't just bad for the residents displaced by rising rents, it's also bad for the transit systems that those displaced residents rely upon.

The trend is likely pushing bus-riding renters to neighborhoods with fewer public transportation options.

That could be a problem.

Fewer transportation options have been found to put a person at higher risk of unemployment, poorer health, and social isolation.

San Francisco Senator Scott Weiner is pushing Senate Bill 79 this year that would allow for dense apartment construction around major public transit stops.

Supported by advocates for denser housing development and public transportation, it is fiercely opposed by construction labor unions, an array of city governments, anti-density advocates, and some activists who argue that the state should prioritize new housing set aside for low-income residents over market-rate development.

For CalMatters, I'm Ben Christopher.