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Transit Helps Fight Climate Change
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Art Guzzetti of the American Public Transportation Association gave the shortest presentation at a recent Washington conference, but one with the most relevance to public transit advocates.
He asked, “How much oil does transit save?”
Answer: the equivalent of 300,000 gas station fill-ups daily, or 34 supertankers leaving the Middle East 11 days (34 in a year), or total U.S. imports from Kuwait in a year. But that’s just direct savings. Multiply by a factor of three to reflect indirect benefits, such as the more energy-efficient, denser real estate development that transit enables.
“By how much does transit reduce carbon emissions?” Transit directly saves 6.9 million metric tons annually. Taking into account indirect savings, this number jumps to 37 million metric tons.
He also noted that, in a typical household, just one person switching their commute from automobile to transit would reduce the carbon footprint of that household by 10%. And if that household is able to get by with one less car overall, the carbon footprint of that household will be reduced 30%. There are few household choices that have an impact of this magnitude.
The conference was the “First Transportation Convention,” held March 5-7 in Washington, DC. The conference was organized by the City of Irving, Texas, “as an extension of the annual Transportation Summit held in August” in Texas.
—Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: apta, climate change, transit, transit-oriented development,Travelers Leaving Cars Behind; Will Federal Funding Recognize This?
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Among the multitude of reports about growing ridership on Amtrak and mass transit, here are links to four.
Last night, Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News opened a major report with this:
“Transit is booming. Ridership is now at its highest point in 50 years. The bad news: because it’s largely been underfunded for decades, mass transit may not be ready for all the Americans leaving their cars behind…”
Here is the video:
The free Washington Examiner yesterday ran a story headed “Gas prices send travelers to Amtrak.” The report said October-to-April ridership was up 10.6% nationwide and 11.2% in the Northeast Corridor compared with the same months a year earlier.
The lead story in yesterday’s USA Today was headlined, “Mass transit breaks records; Rail, bus ridership up as gas prices rocket.” The text highlights one sad irony (also covered on the NBC report): although South Florida Tri-Rail commuter rail ridership was up 13% during the first quarter and up 28% in April, “the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority…faces an $18 million budget hole that may mean cutting train service by more than half.”
Today’s Tampa Tribune carries a story keyed to NARP’s year-ago predictions about the price of oil and gasoline under the headline “A New Train of Thought.” The article begins with this:
One year ago, the National Association of Railroad Passengers predicted the average price of gasoline would top $4 a gallon, a forecast that is close to becoming a harsh reality.
What drew less attention was the organization’s prediction that the cost of flying would soar. In fact, aviation fuel prices are up nearly 85 percent over 12 months, an increase that has contributed to the loss of commercial airline service for 30 small U.S. cities and fewer flights at most other airports.
Perhaps the most important quote is mine in the Tampa article:
“The press has been filled with articles of this nature [about growing train ridership] in recent weeks. What is hard is to get Congress to do anything about it.”
The Climate Security Act now on the Senate floor presents one opportunity to increase funding for passenger trains, but support for this bill has become shaky because the economic climate has made some erstwhile supporters nervous, while longtime opponents of climate change bills are pumping away with statements focused on how the bill would further increase energy and electricity prices.
—Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, brian williams, capon, climate change, legislation, nbc nightly news, news media, tom costello, transit,Flag Stops: Foresight and Oversight
Monday, August 10, 2009
Our slightly-delayed news and views roundup shows that going green does save green, that oil production may peak sooner than expected, and that LaHood’s thinking is still on the right track.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: alternatives, carbon, china, climate change, economics, energy, high-speed rail, peak oil, petroleum, roundup, trains, travel,An Oily Warning
Friday, June 11, 2010
As oil keeps billowing into the Gulf of Mexico, the nation’s attention is focused on yet another of the significant consequences of our overdependence on fossil fuels and overreliance on inefficient technologies. While we hope that the gusher can be safely plugged or diverted as quickly as possible, we have to recognize that every crisis presents an opportunity to shift our society onto a course that will minimize the chances of such devastation occurring again. The spill is a wake-up call that what’s at stake when it comes to transportation policy is the quality of our lives, and those of the ecosystems on which we depend.
Financial Times columnist Philip Stephens says President Obama must use this opportunity “to shape a new conversation about the unavoidable links between oil spills, climate change and sustainable economic growth.” “If the world’s richest nation and biggest oil consumer is not ready to curb the greenhouse emissions that cause global warming,” he cautions, “no one else, least of all China, is going to make the switch to a low carbon economy.”
As the Senate prepares to take up a major energy and climate change measure, the way for which was paved by yesterday’s vote, we need to remind Senators that the revenue generated by a carbon levy on transportation fuels ought to support the development of the most efficient, Earth-friendly form of motorized transport—passenger trains. Revenues from the transportation system should go towards programs like TIGER that use competitive bidding to steer federal dollars to where they can have the most impact in enhancing the quality, while shrinking the carbon footprint, of the US transportation system—along with direct investment in passenger rail, both through the states and through Amtrak.
The longer we wait before taking serious steps towards a saner transportation system, the more the economic, social and environmental price tag of the status quo goes up.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: climate change, deepwater horizon, ecosystems, fossil fuels, gulf oil disaster, investment, oil spill, passenger trains, quality of life, tiger, transportation,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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