WASHINGTON – It seems that America’s longtime love affair with the family automobile is shifting toward a passionate embrace of public transportation, and the romance will only grow stronger with time.
America’s gasoline prices have risen steadily in recent months, reaching all-time highs in the wake of two devastating hurricanes, and now people all across the country are developing a great affection for public transportation in record numbers.
According to data collected throughout the United States in recent weeks and months, buses, subways, trains and other public conveyances all have registered a sharp increase in passengers. This emerging trend, driven largely by pocketbook concerns, seems to be consistent nationwide, regardless of location or setting.
In cities and communities large and small, from coast to coast, people are discovering the clear advantages of public means of mobility to get them to their destinations. Be it the daily commute to work or the holiday trip to Grandma’s house, mass transit is increasingly seen as the way to go.
Metropolitan areas across the country have solid data reflecting this phenomenon. In fact, when gasoline prices peaked in September, some transit agencies saw particularly large increases.
Washington’s subway ridership, for example, increased 8 percent from that of September 2004. Denver’s rapid transit system experienced a 6.8 percent increase during the same period. In Tulsa, Okla., public transit recorded its highest ridership in years, with a remarkable 32 percent jump from the previous year. And Los Angeles – notorious for its congested commuter freeways – registered an increase of 6.7 percent in city bus, subway and metro-link riders in September.
Public will is a mighty force when it is motivated by a simple dollars-and-cents issue. Steady increases in transit ridership across the country underscore the importance of having a well-funded, balanced transportation system nationwide that takes into account the importance of public transit to millions of Americans.
Whether it is concern about the price of gasoline, congestion on the roads, or air-quality deterioration, the number of people forgoing their automobiles for routine and extracurricular travel illustrates the urgent need to have more public transportation services available in communities large and small.
In truth, we have seen the future, and it is already here. Policymakers at the federal, state and local level must heed the need to meet today’s demand and tomorrow’s necessity. The problem is here to stay; and so our officials must remain alert and engaged, to ensure the adequate expansion of our public transportation systems for the nation’s future.
And if the newly demonstrated public demand weren’t enough in itself, public transportation would still be good policy, because it offers critical energy security and environmental benefits.
It is, after all, the single most effective way to reduce America’s burgeoning energy consumption and dependence on foreign oil. It is cost-effective, good for the environment and conducive to our nation’s energy independence. Best of all, it does not require any new taxes, government mandates or regulations to implement.
According to one study linking public transit and energy conservation, if Americans used public transportation for 10 percent of their daily travel needs – roughly the same rate as Europeans – the United States could reduce its dependence on imported oil by more than 40 percent.
That approximates the amount of oil we import from Saudi Arabia each year. Moreover, carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced by more than 25 percent of that called for by the Kyoto Treaty.
Whether or not demand reaches those levels anytime soon, the basic trend is clear enough, driven as it is by finite mineral resources and skyrocketing fuel costs. Circumstances will not change. The emerging shift to mass transit heralds new imperatives as well as new opportunities for society as a whole. It is time for social planners and policy officials alike to face the reality and prepare today for the new public means of mobility that will play such an important part in all our lives tomorrow.
Eric Peters is a contributing editor to Consumer Research magazine.
Syndicated columnist Rich Lowry’s column was not available.
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