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The Impact of Public Transit on Climate Change and America’s Energy Usage |
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| By Matt Mayer in Green Living, Transportation | April 3, 2008 | ||
The Ameican Public Transportation Association published a study recently that features some incredible numbers of what Public Transportation could do to America’s finances. Admitedly, this group is obviously biased, but the figures are such that even if they are partially true they are helpful enough.
For example:
Access to Bus and Rail Lines Reduces Driving by 4,400 Miles per Household, Saves 4.2 Billion Gallons of Gasoline and 37 Million Metric Tons of Carbon.
It’s amazing when you think about the items our country decides to spend money on. Just redeploying a small portion of our defense and road budgets would fund mass transit. Using services like the smart jitney to promote higher occupancy in cars, or car pooling.
There’s a lot that can be done to better utilize our existing infrastructure, but we need to make it a concentrated effort. Some areas will never be mass transit ready, but a lot are and we need to get better utilization rates for them.
Picture is of a bus stop in Curtiba, Brazil. A city that has the mass transit thing figured out.
