Innovative Transit Strategies Can Improve Living Standards

Over the past decade, public transportation has grown faster than the use of private vehicles, and ridership has grown at a faster rate than air travel, according to William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Further, city and regional planners are learning that connecting land use and economic development with transit development can revitalize a whole community, as it did with Arlington, Virginia.

These were a few of the transit related facts and policies, which were discussed at a briefing in the Russell Senate Office Building, in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, March 8. The sponsor of the briefing in the nation's capital, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), frequently holds Congressional briefings which "elevate attention to critical issues and result in ground-breaking solutions," according to EESI promotion literature. This one was under the auspices of Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), who co-chairs the Senate Smart Growth Task Force.

The problem facing the nation, according to EESI, is that the U.S. consumes more than 20 million barrels of oil each day, and 60% is imported. Even the President referred to America's addiction to oil in his 2006 state of the union address last January. Because two-thirds of the oil is used by the transportation sector, strategies need to be devised to somehow reduce the number of miles driven by the automobile.

Moreover, the EESI notice for this briefing said, "By decreasing the number of car trips made by Americans each day, transit helps lower smog-forming emissions and greenhouse gases and improves public health." Both EESI and APTA support the increased use of transit as the single most effective way to reduce America's energy consumption, dependence on foreign oil, and the increasing amount of traffic congestion. Transit, incidentally, refers to the use of buses, metro, light rail, trains, and street cars.

Transit development sounds like a solution to the energy crisis, vehicular emissions control, and worsening congestion. But transit systems are expensive to build and maintain, the public must be motivated to support public transportation in order for the benefits to be realized, and planners, politicians, and business investors must be convinced that the benefits outweigh the costs in order to make it happen in our social-economic-political system.

Transit, land use, and the Affordability Index

To discuss some of the new, innovative transit strategies, EESI invited three national experts of transit. The first speaker, Mariia V. Zimmerman, from the Center for Transit Oriented Development (CTOD), which is part of "Reconnecting America," addressed the relationship between transit and land use.

Zimmerman explained how there is a growing market for wanting to reside near transit. She saw it as an encouraging sign that more people want to reside within ½ mile radius of a transit station, and for some people it is a quarter of a mile.

Zimmerman argued that the concept of "affordable" is too limited when it only includes income and housing costs. Transportation needs to be included as it is the second largest household expenditure after housing, and can make a big difference in a residential neighborhood's affordability. She cited a report put out by the Brookings Institution that the average U.S. household spends 19% of its budget on transportation. A transit-rich area can bring that down to less than 10%.

Transit availability, walkability in the community, and high residential density can result in a family saving thousands of discretionary dollars in the reduction of ownership of automobiles and gasoline costs. By taking into account the cost of transportation, a more accurate picture can be drawn as to the true affordability of a given area. Zimmerman then defined an "Affordability Index," which was based on the concept of including transportation costs, and said it could be an invaluable tool for transit agencies, realtors, developers, government agencies, and community leaders.

Arlington, VA in Metropolitan Washington, D.C., an Example of Smart Transit Development

Zimmerman used Arlington, Virginia, where she and her family live, as an example of a community that was revitalized around the transit-oriented development (TOD). In the late1960s, Arlington was in decline when the decision was made to re-route the planned Orange line from following Highway 66 to along Wilson Blvd., targeting development around the stations, and creating "a linear downtown," like "pearls strung along a necklace." Zimmerman estimated that today, 74,000 daily trips are made, and 38% of the population relies on transit to get to work. Another benefit of the community design is that the tax burden is the lowest in northern Virginia. Arlington is quite a success—employment and the population doubled but amazingly traffic did not.

Who Benefits From Transit? Is Transit Worth the Huge Capital Investment?

Dr. Winston Harrington, Senior fellow, Resources for the Future, noted that in Washington, D.C., half of the work trips to downtown in rush hour are by transit. Even though this is quite extraordinary, Harrington still felt it necessary to investigate the question of whether transit is worth the huge capital investment required.

Dr. Harrington described a model of travel demands based on various income levels, auto ownership, auto use and car pooling, rail and bus use, walking and biking. The model assesses the value of transit by determining the costs and benefits if transit (rail and buses) were to become totally absent. The main conclusion of the study found that "Although transit consumes a large share of the regional transportation budget, the benefits of the system are substantial," and well worth the costs.

Harrington also noted that those who live closer in to the city center benefited more. Traffic congestion is reduced in the downtown, where there was almost 100% fewer vehicle miles traveled (VMT), according to the model.

Public Opinion on Transit and the Future

William Millar, prior to being president of APTA was head of one of the country's largest public transit systems serving Pittsburgh, PA and consequently understands some of the obstacles the average person faces when riding transit. He believes people have a lot of fear in riding transit because they lack the most basic information on how to use it, and said we have made it too hard to use.

Millar said "the public is generally ahead of most public officials" in understanding the role of transit in reducing energy consumption and improving the environment and the community. He mentioned a recent Harris poll when people were asked, what in the future, they would like to see more of. One could vote for more than one transportation mode. The response was that 43% placed their hopes in more rail; only 11% hoped for more highways.