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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Mass Transit the
Smart Way
by
Charles M.
Melchior,
Chester County, Pennsylvania
All proposals to deal with transportation’s
contribution to global warming in the United States, the world’s
greatest polluter/producer of greenhouse gases, seem aimed in the
wrong direction: making the ever expanding use of the automobile less
expensive instead of efforts to discourage automobile use and attract
more and more travelers to mass transit as the most desirable method
of getting from point A to point B. Such measures as reduction of gas
taxes, use of ethanol, drilling for oil offshore or in wildlife
refuges, waging war to force access of nationalized oil production to
private energy profiteers, and expanded resort to nuclear electricity
as a source of energy for hybrid or electric automobiles all have
negative side effects in the long run, aside from prolonging and
increasing use of the automobile as our principal means of
transportation.
Dwight Eisenhower,
the father of the Federal Interstate Highway system, did not realize
the self-perpetuating monster he was creating, as increased capacity
could scarcely keep up with the growth in usage.. In order to
reinvigorate public transportation by making it speedy, convenient,
comfortable, inexpensive, accessible, safe and efficient, the tens of
billions spent annually to expand, improve, widen and increase access
to our system of Interstate highways now should be diverted to public
mass transit so as to fundamentally change the habits of the traveling
public. The capacity of the present Intestate highways should be
frozen while, of course, adequately maintained from a safety
standpoint.
Meanwhile mass
transit systems should be gradually overhauled, reequipped, modernized
and extended/expanded with various forms of shuttle service provided
for interconnections and accessibility to less populated areas with
free, adequate parking at remote public transit pickup points. Various
measures must be taken beyond mere subsidies of mass transit fares,
such as passenger auto surcharges for entering more heavily populated
“downtown” zones, creating safe bicycle pathways, and higher fuel
taxes, so as to discourage personal vehicle transportation and
encourage use of mass transit. These must be part of an overall plan
for the financing, design, construction and operation of the new mass
transit system, with responsibility for various parts assigned
appropriately to federal, state, local and regional levels of
government..
Care must be taken to
examine the impact of such an overhaul on current economic operations
and interests such as suburban shopping malls, industrial and business
relocations, but in the overall total picture the changes described
above would undoubtedly generate substantial expanded economic
activity for decades.
Comment:
Melchior is absolutely correct. Unless we have a real commitment to
changing our basic infrastructure and habits, our energy policies will
do little more than rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.
The Lancaster County
Planning Commission team working to update the county’s transportation
plan has faced the issue by developing a “Charter for Change.” That
Charter, which is now being circulated among the update team members,
is the result of serious discussion; it addresses the future without
being hamstrung by the status quo. It is my hope that the Charter
truly becomes the guide for our county’s future. How we address
transportation will have a major impact on our quality of life. To
review the Charter for Change, go to
www.co.lancaster.pa.us/planning/site/default.asp and then click on
“Long Range Transportation Update” and then on “Charter For Change.”
Lois K.
Herr
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