thanq for you
Cars still king on U.S. highways
By: Drivers.com staff
Date: Monday, 11. December 2006
"The private car continues to dominate urban travel among every segment of the American population, including the poor, minorities, and the elderly," according to the results of a national household travel survey released recently. Public transport accounts for less than 2% of all urban travel, says the 2001 survey, which follows previous Nationwide Personal Transportation surveys in 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, and 1995.
However, the survey did indicate that there has been a significant increase in walking trips in cities (about double), although this could be due to a much improved survey technique that captured previously unreported walks. "Even the lowest-income households make only 5% of their trips by transit," says a report on the survey in the Transportation Quarterly.
The report was produced by Dr. John Pucher and John L. Renne of Rutgers University. Overall, the poor, racial and ethnic minorities, and the elderly have much lower mobility rates than the general population, the report says, and the poor, blacks, and Hispanics are far more likely to use transit than other groups. In fact, these groups account for 63% of transit use.
Dr. Pucher is an advocate of public transit development. There are two main questions we should ask about transportation policy, he says: Do we want to live in compact, clustered cities or in cities sprawled out? Do we want to continue to rely on cars to get around or can we provide safe, sensible alernatives?
"The main reason urban transport policy has not been very effective in the United States is that it has been far too piecemeal, Pucher says. "For transport policy to be effective, it must be a coordinated package of mutually supportive policies to restrict auto use, control parking supply, facilitate bicycling and walking, and integrate transit services and fares. Discouraging low-density sprawl through land-use regulations is also crucial for enabling walking, bicycling, and transit to provide feasible alternatives to the car."
Further comments to this article have been disabled.
All Comments (3)
Showing 1 - 3 comments
soulaiman,
Bill,
WHAT??????????
Commuter guy,
As a driver who is stuck with a 1-hour commute every day I want more public transit -- for all those other drivers! I don't have much choice. I need my car during the day. But maybe the others causing the congestion do.
