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Public
Transportation
by
Chuck Hall
One
way of ‘greening’ your daily commute is to consider public
transportation. I know, I know, nobody wants to ride the bus.
But have you considered the benefits? Even if you can only commute
by bus one day per week, you’ll have contributed by reducing
emissions for that day. If every American commuted one day per week,
it is estimated that we could reduce our fuel consumption in the
U.S. by as much as 40%!
In
addition to being a greener form of transportation, buses are much
safer than automobiles. You can also catch up on work, read the
newspaper or a novel, take a nap, or just chat with your fellow
passengers while skipping traffic jams and road rage.
Riding
the bus means less carbon emissions per passenger vs. the average
automobile. It also means more efficient use of fuel per passenger.
Not only that, but progressive communities are beginning to replace
the diesel fuel in their buses with biodiesel. This means even less
emissions while burning a sustainable fuel.
 For
an even greener form of transportation, ride the rails. As airlines
continue to have financial problems and troubles with security,
trains are looking better and better. France just set a world speed
record for a conventional rail train at 357.2 miles per hour. The
all-time speed record for a train was a Japanese magnetic-levitation
(maglev) train that reached a speed of 361 mph in 2003. Most jets
cruise at speeds of 450 mph or less. Trains are catching up to
airline speeds! When
you consider the amount of time required to drive to the airport and
pass through security, the advantages of travel by train begin to
add up.
Unfortunately
the United States has lagged behind the rest of the world in
providing super high-speed train service to its citizens. The only
super high-speed trains in operation at the present are in the
Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and Boston. Political
infighting usually kills any bill that would fund such projects at
the federal level, but the National Conference of State Legislators
(http://www.ncsl.org) has decided to take matters into their own
hands. Florida is working on a train system using a mixture of
public and private financing. The Florida Department of
Transportation (FDOT) began the project on January 1, 1997. Until
2022, FDOT will provide an annual average of $70 million for the
development of this project. If Florida is successful, maybe the
United States will catch up with the rest of the world in a
generation or two.
Another
green transportation choice that might not be so obvious is taxis. A
regular gasoline-powered taxi has about the same emissions as your
own car, but taxis are available at all hours of the day and are
therefore used constantly instead of just sitting idle in the
driveway. Additionally, as more communities become environmentally
conscious, hybrid taxis and pedi-cabs are increasingly popular.
Taxicab companies find that when they add greener options, they tend
to beat out competitors who do not offer such choices.
Finally,
if your community doesn’t offer public transportation, or if your
public transportation is inadequate for whatever reason, you can
take action yourself to change it. Write to your local newspaper.
Notify your congresspersons. Start a grassroots movement. Let the
people in charge know that you want public transportation and you
want it now!
Chuck
Hall is a Sustainability Consultant and author. His latest book, Green
Circles: A Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, is
now available at Booklocker.com.
You may contact Chuck by email at: chuck@cultureartist.org or visit
the Culture Artist Web site at www.cultureartist.org.
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