Easy Rider

Transit ridership up across U.S.

Posted at 3:57 PM on 12 May 2008

Transit ridership has jumped across the U.S. as folks get tired of paying at the pump. From January to March, transit ridership jumped 10 percent in Boston, 8 percent in both Los Angeles and Denver, and 7.2 percent in the Twin Cities. In Philadelphia, transit ridership in March 2008 was up 11 percent from March 2007; in April, ridership in south Florida was an impressive 28 percent above the year before. "Nobody believed that people would actually give up their cars to ride public transportation," says Joseph Giulietti of south Florida's transportation authority. "But in the last year, and last several months in particular, we have seen exactly that." In addition, motorcycles and scooters are selling like fuel-efficient hotcakes, and vanpools and bikes are increasingly popular. Says Clark Williams-Derry of the nonprofit Sightline Institute, "It's almost like we hit a point where, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore,' and that point was about $3.50 a gallon."

sources: USA Today, The Oregonian, Los Angeles Times, The Republican, Star Tribune, The New York Times

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Comments: (7 comments)

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Up in Houston...

...nearly 10% for both the bus and the rail.

by Tasermons Partner at 5:32 PM on 12 May 2008

No More Gas Pains

http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/05/09/hydro_4000_gas ...

The product is called Hydro 4000, a $1,200 device that sits under your hood and uses electrolysis to turn water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The hydrogen and oxygen are then fed into your engine, and the mixture causes gasoline to burn more efficiently, Havanich says.
"Instead of having anywhere from 5 to 15 percent of your fuel not getting used and going into your catalytic converter, you can burn all your fuel," he told me.
I learned about the Hydro 4000 from a local news report on WPTV Channel 5 in West Palm Beach. Jamie Holmes, the reporter there, was skeptical of Havanich's claims, so he tried the Hydro 4000 on the channel's Dodge Durango news van.

by jabailo at 6:21 PM on 12 May 2008

less than meets the eye

As Paul Krugman noted, a big percentage increase in a tiny number still leaves you with a tiny number. The vast majority of US commuters still get to work by driving a car in which they are the only passenger.

by davedenali at 4:56 AM on 13 May 2008

A Good Start

This shows what could be accomplished with a high gasoline tax that would be used to build public transit. While, as Dave notes, this is merely a large increase in a very small percentage of people, the percentage of drivers leaving private motor vehicles for public transit would increase by a huge amount if gasoline were taxed at a reasonable level, say an additional $4/gallon.

by Wolverine at 12:23 PM on 13 May 2008

Ahh,mass transit

I have been pushing the mass transit button for years and I do hope that it catches on,to the exclusion of private automobiles.The problem is the tens of thousands of little towns like where I live(15,000)and the town across the river is about the same size.We have no mass transit,so to speak.We have two or three "cab" companies that are mom and pop kinda things,no buses except for the old folks storage houses and no trains of course.We do have a shot load of cars and trucks though.Multiply our town by the tens of thousands of others and I believe that we sure aren't helping the environment.Oh and don't forget the thousands of lawn mowers that we have belching out pollutants.We seem to be like so many other places,in love with our cars.Gotta find an alternative that small towns can use.

Why not ask why!?

by usandthem at 7:25 PM on 13 May 2008

Alternatives For Small Towns

Small towns should be easily bikeable. But there's also no reason that public transit wouldn't work there, so long as people actually use it and give up their cars.

by Wolverine at 8:16 PM on 13 May 2008

Street cars...

...Used to be a time, right after the turn of the century in the 1910s and even 20s, when almost every sizable town, even those with just a few thousand, would have streetcars that went up down all the major streets.

by Tasermons Partner at 8:25 PM on 13 May 2008

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