60 Years of Poor Planning Coming Home to Roost
Submitted by Nick D on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 12:18am.
CNN is reporting that according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Americans reduced their number of miles driven year-over-year (that is, from March 2007 to March 2008) by the largest amount ever since records were started in 1942. The largest drop in miles driven by Americans ever in the 66 year history of these records, is combined with the highest usage of public transportation in 50 years, also according to the USDOT.
For the past 60 years, America has largely eschewed investing in public transport like commuter rail, light rail, and subways in favor of more and larger highways extending deeper out into the exurbs. We have eschewed land use planning in favor of allowing farmers to sell directly to developers without planning for transit infrastructure or overall city design. Mass transit is clustered in "older" cities that were built up before 1950 like Chicago, New York, and Boston, while "newer" cities like Atlanta, Houston, and Los Angeles are famously car dependent.
The reason the rising price of gasoline hurts so much is that, with it, 60 years of poor planning comes home to roost. 60 years of people like my former economics professor Bill Bogart driving the transportation conversation who never anticipated that the day would come when demand for transportation fuels would outstrip supply, and that energy-intensive methods of transport like cars and planes that are sexier than passenger rail would become unaffordable. 60 years of white flight and bigger McMansions further from work. 60 years of moving away from neighbors of a different color, rather than working together. 60 years of allowing inner cities to rot while tax dollars were funneled to build new roads, fire stations, water lines, and schools out where the wealthy developers were building new homes.
Of course it goes without saying that if it took us 60 years to get into this mess, its going to take more than a few months to get out.
Strap in, folks. We're in for a rough ride.
Stupid Is as Stupid Does
Submitted by Johnny Springfield on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 12:08pm.
That sums up America when it comes to public transportation. Just as racism fueled the "White Flight" to the suburbs and now exurbs, so to has it fueled poor ridership on public transportation. All those generations or urban planners have planned us into urban deserts where people are effectively marooned without a car. Low fuel costs have allowed Detroit to keep its head up its crankshaft, and being "Ford Tough" means being "Ford Stupid" as whinny Americans cry over gas at $4/gallon. The oil companies rake in their outrageous profits by the minute while Mr. and Mrs. Suburbia wonder what they'll do when gas goes higher, which it will. There is nobody in the oil-to-gas production chain that wants a good thing to stop, and rising prices is great for them, bad for car-centric people "atariwhizkid" mentioned who haven't kept their car parked in their garage and bailed to use public transportation, such as it is. The point of this post is correct: we have put ourselves behind the transportation eight ball and getting out from behind it will take decades to accomplish, because even if there was a change in attitude about "demon cars," to reset the build-it-and-they-will-come model of development will take the kind of political will that Ohio politicians have shown little of in the past. Yes, indeed, we in a pickle; sweet enough for others but sour enough for the "Git'r Done" guy who would rather buy a gas hog truck and get a gun with it than opt for $3/gasoline as an option. You go America!
Racism fuels poor ridership?
Submitted by Schmennis on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 6:14pm.
I'm not sure but it sounds like you are stating poor ridership is fueled by RACISM?
I can think of a whole list of why "white class" people don't ride the bus that have NOTHING to do with "race".
1. Body odor - who hasn't gotten on a bus and sat next to a stinky person? or had to sit in a seat where a hygiene/deodorant challenged person has just sat?
2. Safety of female riders - who hasn't seen a female rider be accosted by a persistent wanna-be suitor?
3. Bus cleanliness - chewing gum on seats, who hasn't ridden a bus and either stepped in (or sat in) gum and ruined a pair or shoes or pants?
4. Inconvenient - who has ridden and bus and waited in the rain, or scorched in the sun in a suit and tie? As Russo would say, "Hotness"
5. Out of control children - who has ridden a bus and NOT seen the out of control kid with an inattentive mom?
6. Early vs. Late - schedule - Have you ever been early for a bus, only to have the bus be late? or vice versa?
7. Transfers - Who hasn't ridden a bus to go 4 miles and had to ride the bus 12 miles?
8. Smells like vomit, looks like ....chicken flavored Alpo?
None of these things has anything to do with RACE!
Racism fuels subruban sprawl
Submitted by Nick D on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 6:29pm.
Schmennis you must have misunderstood what I meant. Racism fuels suburban sprawl, that's why its been known as "white flight" for the last 50 years.
Thank God!
Submitted by Schmennis on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 9:50pm.
Johny's comments were:
"Just as racism fueled the "White Flight" to the suburbs and now exurbs, so to has it fueled poor ridership on public transportation."
Someone could make a mint if they offered mass transit with just a little cleanliness and class.
Maybe offer T.V. Morning news.... a morning paper with a cup of coffee.
"Executive" accommodations with "First class" amenities would ROCK!
I guess another point is
Submitted by atariwhizkid on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 12:26pm.
that gas was so cheap for so long that a comprehensive, robust public transportation system from the 'burbs wasn't necessary for many drivers. Why blame it on urban planners? When cities were first built, roads were constructed for horses to trot down. Obviously, somebody surmised a way for those same roadways to be adapted to auto use. Is this type of innovation not possible today as gas prices rise? And why would it have made sense 60 years ago to sink millions into expensive rail systems when there was no demand for it? How would that be justified? I think that type of argument is completely counterproductive. We need to move forward, not whine about bad decisions dead politicians made.
cleveland
Submitted by sunshine on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 7:19pm.
at rush hour it never takes me longer than 30 min to get downtown from my house, but it takes over an hour to take the rapid. if traffic was awful and there was no parking downtown people might be inclined to take the train instead. People do take the train ("the T")in Boston because adding a massive working population to an already unnavigable highway/road system forces them to make alternative transportation choices. although i have never lived in Chicago or New York, from my visits i know that driving 2 miles can take two hours at the wrong time of day, and again I suspect this has something to do with people's choice to use mass transit. in my experience no red-blooded american really cares about saving fuel unless they have to.
greater cleveland has the population, and could use one more train line, perhaps something that reached the residents in beachwood, u-heights, and mayfield, and even brooklyn and parma to the west. then the city could sell the thousands of parking spaces downtown cheap to commerical developers. more jobs downtown is the answer--a vibrant nightlife and culture are sure to follow.
i realize this does little to improve the belt of land between e24th and 80th. but one step at a time i guess.
Cleveland public transportation
Submitted by kJk on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 11:17pm.
I know a few well-paid professionals who have begun taking the bus to work from the suburbs because of gas and parking. I know a number of people who now take public transportation, and they all say that there has been a large, noticeable jump in ridership on all bus lines from the western suburbs, to the extent that many riders are openly asking for new routes.
In a few years, the design district will begin at Playhouse Square and extend beyond CSU, which ends at E. 24th. The university, Playhouse Square, the city, and numerous others are pushing ODOT to put a cap over the new Innerbelt construction so that they can fill-in the neighborhood and connect Midtown and Downtown. Much of this has already gotten well underway and unless the price of gas drops exponentially, the rest will follow.
The new Euclid Avenue express bus routes that everyone ridicules right now will connect people from downtown to University Circle in only a few minutes and will bring people from Ohio City and Tremont to University Circle and vice versa, spreading investment more broadly across the city.
Bush is unwittingly helping to bring back a city he he tried mightily to leave for dead.
And RTA was named the best public transportation system in North America in 2007.
The only unfortunate thing about RTA
Submitted by atariwhizkid on Wed, 05/28/2008 - 11:39am.
is 70 percent of its funding comes from a sales tax, which is pretty dependent on the health of the economy. Hopefully bad times won't fall upon it financially.
compensated for
Submitted by kJk on Wed, 05/28/2008 - 2:30pm.
Any drop in sales tax revenue is already compensated for. After keeping fares stagnant for over a decade, RTA gradually raised fares and will raise them once more before next summer, to keep up with fuel costs. As ridership continues to escalate, these higher fares more than offset any potential drop in sales tax revenue.
RTA is also cautiously adjusting routes and schedules, according to consistent ridership. For example, the system eliminated empty late-morning routes for a busline from Lakewood to downtown and in turn added another early morning route to keep up with the commuter rider spike.
We got what we asked for..
Submitted by ohioconstituent on Wed, 05/28/2008 - 9:36pm.
I am hoping some of you remember the "Energy Crisis" in the 70's. The price of gas jumped up to almost a dollar a gallon and there was a shortage!! What happened when the "shortage" didn't exist anymore? The price of gas kept going up, and we just went with it. Now the price of gas jumps 20 cents a day and we gas up our SUV's and drive home. We never supported mass transit because it was easier to drive our Excursions with the V-10 engine. WE let the price of gas skyrocket and OUR elected officials have done nothing about it! How about some Consumer Protection from businesses price gouging us? But we go along like dogs on a leash, bleeding cash but now the question is for gas or groceries?
Where you choose to live is your choice. How you choose to spend your money is your choice. But the story is annual driven mileage is down. DUH, ya think the beating we're taking at the pumps may be the reason???
Density and Design Demand New Decisions
Submitted by Johnny Springfield on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 5:54am.
As someone who was around during the oil embargo days of the 70s, when the price of gas then (as "ohioconstituent pointed out) would be a priced we'd kill for today, not binding outward development to public transportation nodes has and will continue to be our Achilles Heel, as Americans, especially the younger ones who have had it drummed into their heads that the wedding vow of owning a car (with its attendant costs for insurance, maintenance, etc.) is sacrosanct, slowly awaken to the fact that if public planners and public investment had been wed to each other decades ago they wouldn't be stuck on a freeway going no where fast. But developers rule the roost in Ohio and other states, so buying cheap land in the burbs or the country (when compared to central city costs) is the first rule of thumb. With little or no focus given to public transportation over the years, we have still-born systems that function but are marginal compared to how robust they could be with a change in attitude and public investment. But there is little hope of that happening anytime soon. An Ohio House subcommittee convened a couple years ago by Larry Wolpert looked at zoning and design issues, which included information about how Illinois and Virginia changed how development is allowed to proceed and overseen by local and state officials. Greater Ohio, a statewide network promoting policies that encourage redevelopment of Ohio's cities and towns and conservation of farmland and open space, also known as the "smart growth" group run by Eugene Krebs, is onto the crux of the problem, but, in my opinion, no one's really listening to them, otherwise we'd be seeing the kind of changes that would prevent further sprawl without public transportation and insist on "density" as a key factor in any development. Portland, Oregon is always used as a model of what a city can do to keep its urban center alive, vibrant and "dense," which then makes public transportation a nature and smart choice, but as smart as it is, its the exception to the rule, not the rule itself. If paying attention to the style and quality of public transportation -- marketing it to the public in the way way Detroit markets cupholders, horsepower and playing video games while driving -- is what is needed to get people out of their cars and into buses or trains, then there's no time like the present to start that change in mindset. We've always been a big country with endless space to expand into. But now that expansion outward is turning into a forced march for Americans whose incomes are loosing to inflation and whose dollars are shrinking in purchasing power by the day, it's time to not looking at what other developed nations have done and start doing what they have done. Public funding for public transportation has always been the poor stepchild of public budgets. Maybe it's time Ohio, as a state, made a change in its attitude on this. In the 70s, for those of us who were younger and as equally engaged then on the issues of the day as many of the crowd here at BSB are, I recall the formation of the Ohio highspeed rail group. Sounded good and I was for it. Thirty years later, I'm still for it but I don't see one mile of highspeed rail. But up young man, not out.
I could be mistaken, but...