It's easy enough to forget, in a nation spanned by nearly 50,000 miles of highway, where even the posh, boutique coffee shops offer drive-through service, that there are ways to get from one point to another sans automobile. Easy, that is, until the fuel that makes it all possible soars in price by 25% in the space of a year. Americans use roughly twice as as much petroleum per person than their European counterparts. No surprise, then, that gas prices near $4 per gallon have shaken consumers to their bones, and left them searching frantically for alternatives.
And for many Americans public transit, the long-neglected, oft-maligned stepchild in the nation's transportation mix, has proven a valuable resource. This week, the American Public Transit Association released its figures for transit ridership in the first quarter of 2008, and the data was distinctly un-American. Nationally, use of public transit systems was up 3.3% over the same period the year before - an increase of 85 million trips. The numbers are impressive; this year's gains come atop the 10.3 billion passengers carried by transit in 2007 - the most in 50 years. A half-century of American transit decline has been erased in a remarkably short time, thanks to the changing economics of petroleum.
But for many Americans, the transition has been painful. Miles driven have fallen much less than prices have risen because transportation alternatives are so limited. For decades, federal policies and budgets have prioritised highway construction and suburban development, leaving the country ill-prepared to handle unprecedented oil prices. This bias persists today. The president's 2009 budget maintains funding for new transit projects at just over $1.5bn - a fraction of the money accorded to highways - despite the obvious shift in consumer transportation preferences.
It's a division of resources that makes little sense given the expected growth in petroleum demand and constraints on petroleum supply, and less still when other pressing crises are taken into consideration. Road congestion generates a national cost of about $78bn per year in lost time and wasted fuel. Commuting times have grown beyond comprehension - one in six Americans spend 45 minutes getting to work each day, and 3.5 million Americans now have commutes longer than 90 minutes. And traffic accidents cost the nation roughly $220bn per year, while claiming some 40,000 lives annually.
As the nation turns its attention to the growing threat of climate change, the toll of its auto-addiction will loom large. America's transportation sector is responsible for roughly a third of the nation's carbon emissions (pdf), most of which can be attributed to the tailpipes of cars and trucks. It's a wedge of the emissions pie that has grown in recent years, as vehicle miles travelled by Americans outstripped automobile ownership and population growth. More people have been driving more cars more miles, with predictable results for the nation's carbon footprint.
But this trend has come to an abrupt halt. Miles travelled fell 4.3% from last March to this one - a difference of 11bn miles. Gasoline purchases may drop this year for the first time in two decades. High fuel costs have done what no one imagined possible. The groundwork is laid for a historic shift in transportation in America, provided that leaders are willing to seize the opportunity.
As the latest transit use statistics indicate, there is a clear role for public transportation to play in lightening consumer burdens as fuel costs rise. As commuters in cities like Washington and New York can attest, transit systems are also a vital bulwark against crushing traffic congestion and resulting economic disaster.
But transit also has the potential to cut per capita emissions significantly, particularly in the nation's rapidly growing metropolitan areas. A recent assessment of metropolitan carbon footprints (pdf), the work of economists Ed Glaeser and Matthew Kahn, ably illustrates the potential: "[I]n Chicago and Washington, per household emissions from private cars are more than 10 times the emissions from public transport." The emphasis is mine. Public transportation, a concept more than a century old, is one of the best available technologies in the effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
American consumers are understandably pained and upset by the rapidly rising cost of gasoline, but their search for relief offers policymakers a unique opportunity to harness individual interest in the advancement of broader social goals. Demand for transit is booming. There will be no better time for Washington to commit itself to new and significant investments in transit infrastructure.
In doing so, policymakers can rectify a half-century of misguided policy and unsustainable development. By doing nothing more than responding to consumer demand, leaders can strike a blow against congestion, save lives and take a bold step toward reductions in carbon output. Washington should make the best of an uncomfortable situation, and solve a handful of seemingly intractable problems at a stroke.
