Transportation in Our Nation’s Capital
by Dr. Brent Blackwelder, President emeritus, Friends of the Earth
The series of oil spills in the U.S. this year—the BP spill, other Gulf of Mexico spills, the million-gallon pipeline rupture in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River- should energize efforts in city after city to revamp transportation and breathe new life into alternatives to the automobile.
Our metropolitan area news over the past year and a half has regularly pointed to the decline in performance of Metrorail, along with a serious lack of investment in capital improvements. Just replacing the old escalators (short-flight ones) is taking months. Riders now have to face fare hikes while drivers never pay the full cost of their automobile usage on the city.
Bus routes are also suffering. The Washington Post reported on August 16 that a popular bus line in Northern Virginia will close in September for lack of funding.
The road strategy continues to fail in the US and around the world. (Moscow story) The Intercounty Connector should be a major embarrassment to a county like Montgomery that prides itself on environmental awareness.
Our nation’s capital should take some bold steps to reduce congestion and to upgrade our public transportation. We can look to cities worldwide that have had success with congestion charges for entering the city. Yes, I know that Congress will likely veto such measures, but let’s bring on the fight and push for new sources of revenue.
In London a $10/vehicle peak-hour congestion fee was put in place for cars entering the center city. The fee was upped to $16 in 2005 and this toll resulted in a 36% drop in peak-hour traffic and a 50% increase in the number of bicycles.
Is there any sign of hope for public transportation on the horizon? On July 25th the Chicago Tribune reported that for the first time, both suburban and urban citizens in the Chicago metro area think that more money ought to be spent on transit than on highways. This poll is one piece of evidence that a crack may be opening in the highway lobby’s stranglehold on transportation choices.
Another promising sign is the growth in U.S. transit ridership. Since 1996 transit ridership has increased by an average of 2.6% annually, and the year 2009 witnessed a 3.3% increase.
Recent economic analyses highlight the costliness of oil and automobile usage, and evidence from these analyses should drive big shifts in policy. For instance, the Department of Transport in the U.K. has found that for each British pound spent to reduce car usage, there are £10 of benefits in the economy from fuel savings, reduced congestion costs, and lower pollution levels.
Why is it that DC, Maryland, and Virginia are not funding Metro to the maximum to reap benefits of attracting more people to leave their cars in the garage? Why is it that every year transit supporters have to scramble to get adequate budgets?
Now is the time to rescue America from the Dark Ages of highway building. A comparison of transportation systems between European cities and US cities is illuminating. A quick look at Atlanta versus Amsterdam demonstrates the gap. In Atlanta 95% of residents commute to work by car. In Amsterdam 40% commute by car, 35% bike or walk, and 25% go by transit.
Here in the Washington metro area, we can feel somewhat relieved that we are better than Atlanta in transportation choices but the statistics from Amsterdam should serve as a reality check on how far behind we still are.
As the fall primaries and general election approach, it is time to demand a commitment from all those running for public office to reverse the disproportionate spending on roads instead of public transportation.