Making the Switch
Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit
Statistics Canada released 2006 census data this week. Not surprisingly more Canadians are using alternate means of getting to work than just taking their cars. Calgary boasted the largest increase in public transit use (three percent), but Toronto weighed in with a more than 30 percent increase in the number of bike riders.
Now how do we compare to that in the United States? We take money from public transit to increase roads while at the same time increasing gas prices seemingly exponentially.
Something just doesn’t seem to mesh here…
The problem here is the lack of investment by the U.S. government when it comes to public transit. The Canadian government is spending billions of dollars to improve its transit system and in this country transit has to fight for every penny it gets.
Now, I understand that this has been the case for some time now. But it’s amazing how we just accept this lack of forethought on the part of our government.
I was watching the Daily Show last night and they showed footage of the representatives from leading U.S. oil companies being called before Congress because of the soaring gas prices while their companies set record profit numbers.
The interesting bit was seeing the same footage from a year ago. And two years ago. And three years ago.
Two years ago gas prices surged. People were outraged. Public transit ridership swelled and discussion of more investment in public transit grew.
Last year gas prices surged. People shrugged and tightened their belts. What could they do? Interest in public transit flattened.
This year we are looking at gas prices at near $4 a gallon or greater. Again people are outraged. And yet, we don’t see the government looking toward public transit as a solution.
They look around trying to lay blame on somebody while people struggle to get by. Will next summer be another year of shrugged shoulders and belt tightening? Is this a vicious circle we’re in?
We don’t need more money for transit agencies. We don’t. We need a massive investment in public transportation. We need to make public transit the first choice for commuters and travelers instead of the second or third.
And we need the government to stop for a second and realize that the problem it is desperately trying to solve is a fire it keeps feeding with its current policies.
Let’s hope it doesn’t get beyond its control.
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Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,
April 4th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
You should write every governor, Mayor and County Executive in the USA with this message, as well as every US Representative and Senator.
April 4th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
it is beyond control…
(p.s. include the posts in your submittal to the politicians)
April 5th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Here in Milwaukee our County Executive has raised fares and cut bus routes every year for the past 7 years. Can you guess which city in America has actually seen a decline in mass transit use? Yup Milwaukee.
April 7th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I live in a transit friendly state - New York, which makes significant public transit operations and capital expenditures annually. Statewide, 26% of commuters take public transit to work. However, 97.4% of public transit ridership is in the New York City Metro Area (Downstate) vs 2.6% for Upstate New York.
But, transit’s small percentage in Upstate New York is not the whole story. Similar to the Canadian example, it is better to count and advocate for all alternative modes of travel. In Upstate New York, 20.5% of commuters use alternative modes for going to work, other than driving alone. It’s more credible to advocate for increasing the 20.5% share than just for public transit.
An example for how to do can be found on the CIVITAS website
http://www.civitas-initiative.org/main.phtml?lan=en
What is CIVITAS? It’s a program of the European Union to help cities achieve “a more sustainable, clean and energy efficient urban transport system by implementing and evaluating an ambitious, integrated set of technology and policy based measures.”
All alternative modes are on the table as a green transport package. Further, there is a major effort to use technology to integrate modes. I found the CIVITAS website last week. I found a case study from Genoa, Italy on a flexible transit service for small urban and rural use I’ve been looking for. So, where is the American version of CIVITAS, a clearinghouse for innovation?
The breakout opportunity for public transportation is to use a “big tent” approach to support public investment in all green transport modes. Public transportation should become a leading advocate for the big picture.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:34 pm
The model for CIVITAS in the US is DETROIT.
America is a big country few cities are set up for mass transit. those that are (Boston Chicago, San Francisco NYC ..and Washington DC) use it.
The suburban sprawl model does not lend itself to mass transit. Want to transfer three or four times to get to work every single morning?
Unfortunately many old central cities have decayed and that has fostered a rats nest of commuting patterns around their perimeters. Detroit is a good example of that.
High energy prices could bring central cities back to life. And that could help to restore energy efficiency. But until then I’m afraid that telecommuting is a more likely solution than mass transit across most of the nation. Of course, that does not work for manual laborers.
Go to a place like Olympia Washington, a place that gets a lot of rainfall and where biking to work is not a viable alternative for most. You still find that huge bike lanes have been created forcing car traffic into a narrowed snarl. There is nothing virtuous about that. Even when some environmental solution is tried it seems to fail- it’s executed dumbly.
Mass transit is a good idea but it makes for a very painful commute for most Americans. Our cities were not - simply not - designed for it. Still where it is viable we should offer more of it. Just don’t get your hopes up too much.
I was in grad school with a 100 mile commute to school in the first energy crisis (1973). It was not fun. I car pooled -and I was lucky to find a car pool. Still, it was painful and restrictive.
Look at a map of LA. How would you mass transit that?
FYI. I live in NYC now and love the mass transit here.
good luck everyone else…