How can we promote public transportation in major metropolitan areas?

Question

It seems to me that a major source of pollutants like carbon monoxide, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, not to mention greenhouse gasses, are emitted by our automobile fleet. Most commuters in suburbs think it is not only convenient, but practically necessary to commute, by themselves, in cars. How can we take grassroots actions to work with or cut across city and county bureaucracies to make public transportation a convenient alternative?

Answer 1

Economically, we need to hurt peoples pocketbook to make them change their behavior and give them incentives for the new behavior we want. So, tax car transportation in the region and drop the price of mass transit. How about make it free?

Grassroots we can advocate with policymakers to implment change. A petition doesn't really cut it. Create the imperative for lawmakers and they will respond. This can be done at the local, regional or state level effectively.

Answer 2

Money and time, and both in positive AND negative ways. The positive: We have Commuter Rewards in Atlanta (www.commuterrewards.com). They pay people $3 a day to commute. It's easy to do (basically, you just have to promise to do it, log it, and have somebody at your work verify it), and they'll pay you up to $180. There are also lots of drive-time radio ads explaining how you'll save money on gas, don't have to keep paying for downtown parking, etc. There's an on-line matching service to make meeting people easy. There's a "guaranteed ride home" program, so if your ride has an emergency and can't pick you up, the program will get you home. Also, car pools and buses and alternative fuel vehicles in Atlanta are the only vehicles allowed to use the far left lane on the interstates - and it's usually much faster than the other lanes.

Now for the negative influences (the ones people don't like so much):
It has to be more expensive, and take more time to drive. You can point out to people that they won't have to experience the frustration of driving if they take mass transit, and they can do other things like read their email or the newspaper, but what commuters WANT is to get home fast - and they're willing to pay a lot for it. So basically, you make the single commuters' trips take longer. You give an entire lane to the car poolers and other high-occupancy vehicles (the HOV lane) - the time savings for not standing at the bus stop or meeting up with someone to car pool begins to diminish. You quit putting money into more and more roads, and put the money instead into making public transit more efficient. You make sure the police enforce HOV lane priorities and that they issue _expensive_ tickets for misuse. You stop issuing permits for more commercial parking lots, so existing paid parking becomes more expensive. You tax fuel.

Will any of this be easy? No. It will be really difficult to get any of this, especially the negative factors, through the state legislature (or whoever controls the DOT money in your state). But it can be done.

Answer 3

for example here in Baltimore companies get tax breaks by promoting car pooling and mass transit programs to their employees. The employees get some kind of additional benefit from their employer.
The way to promote change is to clearly show the positive impact mass transit would have to the individuals expenses. If we can save money great and if it's good for the environment, even better.
Recently it was Bike to Work Day. scheduled events like this can help promote alternative transportation.
Unfortunately due to physical infrastructure and zoning laws, the solutions can be tricky.
It's hard to get a light rail built through grass roots campaigns. I believe transportation is the greatest overlooked political issue today.

Answer 4

There are a number of things. A lot of cities/metropolitan areas really need to invest in improving their public transit systems. They need to be convenient enough to make it easy enough for people to switch to, rather than driving. There will still be people who absolutely must have the convenience of being able to leave their house when they want on their own schedule, but at least getting more people to use public transit would be a step in the right direction. Also, I know my company promotes carpooling and offers a cash incentive for carpooling. Also, many companies offer benefits such as paying for bus passes and such. Incentives such as these would be a great benefit and a much bigger attraction to push people towards using public transit.

A lot of it comes down to people just not wanting to give up the convenience of working on their own schedule and going where they want to go, when they want to go. It's a tough habit to break, but people didn't used to all have multiple cars per family. It used to be more common to see 1 car per family, but now, many more families have many more cars. Many more drivers are on the streets. Many more people need to think about this issue...

Answer 5

I have found that living in New Jersey,the single most congested state in America is a study in such issues everyday. Americans don't want to give up the use of
their cars. I think city-driving has to be discouraged through
user fees and taxes/penalties,because so many other
solutions have failed to get enough people on the trains & out of their cars. Unfortunately,Americans are still in love with the
automobile and we love our freedoms. We need to model
after the european cities who impose heavy fees/fines for
using city streets/bridges/byways during rush hour times.
Unfortunately,the rich could still behave as always and drive
or be chauffered wherever they need or want to go.
Do you know how much petrol Trump's helicopters guzzle,just
to get him across town quickly? Talk about an eco-disaster!

Answer 6

I take public transportation from time to time in in a major, you need to make is SAFER TO RIDE, and the only way is enforcement. And a large part of THOSE THAT ENFORCE are paid by the company and or the public to protect and make safe, look the other way, don't care and just want the paycheck.

Answer 7

I have asked Yahoo and Google to provide public transportation info as well as driving directions.

I'm retired, so it's easy for me to use the bus. Busy, 2-job families have a tougher time coordinating.

If there were financial rewards to public transportation, such as gift certificates, free coffee, half-price whatever, added to the bus/train ticket, that might be incentive.

Answer 8

make it more convenient than driving. Until that happens.. public transportation will fail.

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Simplest... parking lots on the edge of the city and ONLY have the in-town electric rail available in the city. No cars.

Of course... everyone will avoid that city like the plague...

Answer 9

Increase the safety of it! I personally detest most city busses and subways because it is filthy and unsafe. I've seen people get mugged and murdered at public transportation depots and subway stations. I know that keeps me from using them....

Answer 10

Clean it up
Make it convenient
Make it cost effective