Head Meet Wall
Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor
For every step forward transit takes, it seems mainstream media is there to blow the whistle and tell it to take two steps back. Last night I was watching the ABC World News while cooking dinner and a story come up about how people are driving less due to the economy. OK, that’s fair, but there was no mention of transit. Instead Charlie Gibson’s point was, “If you have a job you can get there quicker.” How hard does transit need to work to get a little respect?
In the report, which you can view here, Gibson claims a “clear sign” of growing unemployment can be found on roads where there has been a significant reduction in congestion. The story basically covers the recent Department of Transportation (DOT) report that total vehicle miles travelled dropped by 3.6 percent in 2008. Of course, it also stops there, telling you the economy is bad so people aren’t driving making it better for everyone else on the road.
It fails to pick up the APTA information that in the same time transit trips increased by 4 percent — and this despite the plummeting gas prices. So, once again, the public only gets half the story.
Hey, you’re commuting? You’ve been using the bus? Ah, a bunch of people are out of work, go on get back into your car!
I’m banging my head against the wall again on this. I know I shouldn’t. It’s the same situation transit has been facing for, well, ever.
Last summer when gas prices soared the media covered the boom in transit ridership and left you with the implication that it all had to do with high gas prices. When gas prices dropped and ridership stayed the same or increased in some locations where was the media? Off covering the latest juicy story.
Now the economy is in the tank and the number of cars is down. Is it really because all of these people are out of work, or is it because people are taking transit? The story discusses metro Atlanta and how traffic has dropped there by 36 percent. And MARTA ridership? Its subway system alone had an 8.6 percent ridership increase in 2008.
I can’t help but feel that transit continues to get the short shrift when it comes to news coverage. When I hear people complaining about how ineffectual a high-speed rail system will be, I wonder have they heard the whole story when it comes to transit or just what the media wants them to hear.
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Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,
Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
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May 1st, 2009 at 11:28 am
Hey Fred…
tell it to the new DOT head. Transparency and letting us all know is part of his job…especially since he’s beenroad tripp’n as of late.
May 1st, 2009 at 11:38 am
Fred,
This is a great story and terrific point of view; and how often do we see the media getting things half right (or is it half wrong)? It’s like the use of statistics, it depends what message you want to convey (or not convey, as in hiding something). Transit deserves credit, as credit is due, since this affects political support when needed and it can potentially improve general awareness to our patrons, or more importantly, to our potential patrons.
You’ve mentioned the reasons for people to use transit, and I am certainly aware that transit is not readily feasible (or even accessible easily at times) for all; however, there are so many individuals missing out on transit services, as I like to put it.
May 1st, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Keen analysis. Why not copy Public Television on this? They are the only ones likely to cover it.
And another story we need to see is the American’s idea of the image of riding public buses. My co-workers were surprised that I used a bus to get to work, thinking (or saying) aren’t buses for poor people? In the San Francisco Bay Area, you now see lots of suits on buses these days, but for many the image (no pun intended) is poor.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Fred, You make a good point about transit being a media stepchild, but isn’t it understandable? We in the industry know that if everybody did what we say we want them to do, give up driving to work and switch to buses and trains, we couldn’t handle the loads. We also know that, at a time when transit is more in demand than ever before, support for operations is nearly impossible to come by. Operating money wasn’t included in the stimulus package. Here in California, our “green” governor is making draconian cuts in long-established state operating subsidy programs that are forcing massive service cuts and fare increases all over the state. And successful local financing measures almost always feature windfalls for building things but not for running them. Does the media dis transit. To the extent that it’s even on their radar, of course they do. But in this day and age, they are far from the only ones.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:51 pm
It also doesn’t help promote transit when the Vice President goes on camera and tells people to avoid transit during the current flu scare.
May 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
This really could become a campaign if you wanted to take it to the next level. Corporate Media has to be pro auto industry, since they provide so much ad revenue to the shows. I’d seriously recommend we begin a write-in to the various networks criticizing this “ignore mass transit” bias. We also need to mobilize around getting money for it. It seems like a no-brainer to increase mass transit investment and everyone supporting the best green solution is taking it for granted that it will be provided for by the Obama administration. Instead the industries in trouble, like big oil, big auto - and by extension the related industries: car insurance, parts, mechanics, and car financing companies - are going to fight any expansion of mass transit. This includes creating high speed rail as well as our current transit infrastructure.
We need to do more besides talk amongst ourselves.
May 4th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
How can transit get respect when it’s become such a parasitic, public-subsidized entity? There was a time when it was a profitable privately-owned industry before the government stepped in and turned it into what it is today. The transit industry needs to get back to it’s roots and pay it’s own way instead of whining and waiting for another public dole.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Hey Fred, How about our VP saying he wouldn’t get on a plane or a bus right now, due to this “whine flu”, didn’t that make you want to bang your head too.
May 11th, 2009 at 9:39 am
“If you have a job you can get there quicker.” For many years, the big push in Europe has been to make transit competitive with driving by increasing the average operating speed. Here in Portland our new streetcar line averages 5.5 miles per hour, while Strasbourg, France’s new line operates at an average speed of 17 miles per hour, in a similar operating environment.
Yes, I know that our lines operate in a highly political environment, and and unfortunately many of the decisions that drive these things are made in a less than ideal environment. However, to “get some respect” those are the types of changes that are going to be necessary.