Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation

[TonyPSchaefer]

WASHINGTON, DC–A study released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association reveals that 98 percent of Americans support the use of mass transit by others.

"With traffic congestion, pollution, and oil shortages all getting worse, now is the time to shift to affordable, efficient public transportation," APTA director Howard Collier said. "Fortunately, as this report shows, Americans have finally recognized the need for everyone else to do exactly that."

Of the study's 5,200 participants, 44 percent cited faster commutes as the primary reason to expand public transportation, followed closely by shorter lines at the gas station. Environmental and energy concerns ranked a distant third and fourth, respectively.

Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

[PriusLewis]

Note the majority only care about what's in it for them RIGHT NOW!!! Also, most Americans want public transportation IF it picks them up at their door and drops them off at their place of work with no stops in-between (or at least few stops). Few are willing to drive to a station, take a train or bus, and walk the final distance to their job.

The problem with American cities isn't the lack of public transportation, it's that we live many miles from where we work. American cities only work well with personal transportation (cars). We need to re-design the way we live before we try to use public transportation to make up for poor urban design.

[TonyPSchaefer]

You did read the part where they support public transportation for others, right? And only so it would free up the roads for themselves.

[dogfriend]

The Onion and The Daily Show are the two best sources for news these days.

[Jimmie84]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

The Onion and The Daily Show are the two best sources for news these days.

Don't forget Conan O'brien

[NoMoShocks]

It is an excellent example of how anything, especially a pole, can be spun just about any way you wish to misslead people. Reading the title, I practically fell out of my chair when I read 98 percent in the subject line. Then I opened the OP and read "Other People" and thought "Ya Think! I would prefer that 100 percent of the other people would take public transportation and stay off my roads.

I would like it though, if it would pick me up at my front door and drop me at work, and take me to a couple of errands during lunch, and maybe drop by an appointment on the way home.

I used local public transportation to get from work to pick up my car from repair once. It involved waiting 10 minutes for a bus, 15 minute ride to the light rail station, figuring out an unfamillar ticket machine with resulting over payment and later contact to request partial refund, stop after stop after stop for people to get on and off and on and off, overcrowding with people hanging over me, hard seats, ugly grafitti and a final 10 block walk to the dealership. A 30 minute trip by car becomes a 2 hour trip. I cannot afford to spend 3+ hours, 5 days per week in a shaky, dirty bus and train.

[TonyPSchaefer]

When I travel around the United States my first stop when I get off the plane is the rental place. When I travel overseas, my first stop is the train or bus ticket counter. I stand at the platform for several minutes. I have to figure out the schedule and listen to the announcements and other languages but I always manage to get where I'm going without a car. It's the way it is and people are not angry about it. It's life. When I need to run out and get something I walk during lunch.

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by TonyPSchaefer

When I travel around the United States my first stop when I get off the plane is the rental place. When I travel overseas, my first stop is the train or bus ticket counter. I stand at the platform for several minutes. I have to figure out the schedule and listen to the announcements and other languages but I always manage to get where I'm going without a car. It's the way it is and people are not angry about it. It's life. When I need to run out and get something I walk during lunch.

Interesting, isn't it. I have had the same experience traveling overseas. I do the same when I fly into NYC. NYC is one of the few U.S. cities where it is easier to take public transportation than to rent a car and drive.

European cities tend to be more compact and suited for public transportation. I imagine this is a chicken and the egg situation: without cars, the city can't spread out; being compact, you don't need cars.

My family lives in a small village. Our life style is very European. We walk to work, walk to the post office, walk to the bank, walk to school, walk to the bakery, walk to the grocery store, and walk to the marina. We walk everywhere. Our Prius sits in the garage unless we make a shopping trip to the "big" city (population 14,000) or go on a trip. I shop for groceries daily, sometimes more that once a day.

It's a great way to live. I'm hoping U.S. cities become more walkable. The standard suburban life style in the U.S. lacks in many ways.

Tom

[NoMoShocks]

Originally Posted by qbee42

My family lives in a small village. Our life style is very European. We walk to work, walk to the post office, walk to the bank, walk to school, walk to the bakery, walk to the grocery store, and walk to the marina. We walk everywhere. Our Prius sits in the garage unless we make a shopping trip to the "big" city (population 14,000) or go on a trip. I shop for groceries daily, sometimes more that once a day.

Tom

I am very happy for you, and I don't mean this sarcasticly at all. I would love to live in such a small town. Prolem is, if eveyone else who would likely enjoy such a lifestyle moves there, it won't be like that anymore. I grew up in a small town like that, and the number of careers available to me there was very limited, and I doubt there would have been enough jobs for all the kids that were growing up, so some of us ultimately would have to move to a big city, or the area would just become depressed as people competed for lower and lower wadge jobs. I am not an economist. Just my idea that could be totally wrong.

[PriusLewis]

Originally Posted by NoMoShocks

Tom

I am very happy for you, and I don't mean this sarcasticly at all. I would love to live in such a small town. Prolem is, if eveyone else who would likely enjoy such a lifestyle moves there, it won't be like that anymore. I grew up in a small town like that, and the number of careers available to me there was very limited, and I doubt there would have been enough jobs for all the kids that were growing up, so some of us ultimately would have to move to a big city, or the area would just become depressed as people competed for lower and lower wadge jobs. I am not an economist. Just my idea that could be totally wrong.

Yes, part of the problem is exponential population growth as you note, but the other issue is centralization of work. When we were industrially based this was more of an issue (although Japan managed industrialization with less centralization through contracting with numerous "mom and pop" suppliers in outlying areas rather than big factories). Now that we are getting more and more info- and service based, I believe we will see more and more telecommuting. Practically everything I see done at work (a software development environment) could be done with all of us telecommuting. Tools need to improve and bandwidth increases would help, but we're about there now.

Part of the problem is people who cannot turn lose of paper. I'm MUCH closer to the end of my career than the beginning, but I despize paper and prefer to review and work on documents on the screen. Most of my contemporaries do not (well, not the screen I'm currently looking at - I'm on my 10" netbook right now and my eyes aren't up to multiple windows on this screen any more ). Not to mention paper is such a waste of resources even if it is "renewable."