Mass Transit: The Future of American Travel In today's day and age, an increasing urgency must be put on the issue of transportation and its relation to society. Man owes it to himself to address the issue of transportation with practicality and, as one of the biggest polluters, ultimate discretion. One of the most practical and responsible forms of transportation available today is mass transit. However, a problem is present in American society in that mass transit is not as plentiful as it should be. Societies' across the globe are embracing mass transit much more quickly than Americans are. This problem can be remedied through proper education of the benefits of mass transit. Mass transit is the ideal future of travel for several reasons. Of note: “mass transit costs less to the community, needs less urban space, is less energy-intensive, pollutes less, is the safest mode, improves accessibility to jobs, and offers mobility for all” (1). Mass transit is also a highly flexible mode of transportation, with many different methods of travel available. Of note for these: metros, buses, carpooling, light rail, and waterborne transports. Proponents of mass transit claim it will find solutions to problems concerning the economy, the environment, and the energy crisis, as well as improving overall quality of life (2). Each of these ideas will be examined more in-depth. Frequently claims are made that mass transit can provide various solutions for the economy, the environment, and the energy crisis, in addition to improving the overall quality of life (2). Mass transit provides the following solutions to various economic problems. Firstly, as a result of the recession we now face, unemployment is substantially higher t... ... middle of paper ... ...s than they would have otherwise, which would in turn lead one to believe that this would result in a lower amount of strain on our already taxed healthcare system. It has been shown that the benefits of increased investment in the public transportation sector would apply to most, if not all, Americans. Whatever monetary costs Americans would have to meet would be met, if not completely overshadowed by the amount they would save on average. Therefore, based on the evidence available, one may conclude that it is not only necessary and proper, but also urgent to pursue an active agenda towards the increased funding and research of public transportation. Bibliography 1. UITP - International Association of Public Transport. Web. 05 Mar. 2011. . 2. PublicTransportation.org. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .
Since the beginning of the United States the American people have been on the move. Public transportation has played a major role in the development of this nation and in bringing its citizens together. In the book “Divided Highways”, author Tom Lewis takes the reader on a journey of the building of the Interstates and the consequences(good and bad) that came from them. Lewis believes that the Interstates are a physical characteristic of America and that it shows “all our glory and our meanness; all our vision and our shortsightedness”(xiv).
ISTEA Sec. 1033 (1991) authorized the allocation of national highway system funds as well as federal land highway funds to support the construction of bicycle and walking paths adjacent to highway systems and refurbishing bridges for pedestrian use, up to 80 percent of total cost (“Intermodal Surface Transportation”,1991). At the conclusion of the 6 year scope, ISTEAs impact was viewed as minimal, at best. Dilger (2003) cites a lack of public interest by the American people as the catalyst for the “failure”. Americans would much rather drive to their destination as opposed to riding a bicycle or walking (p. 60).
The North American transport system is run by several different agencies, each one having its own important part in making it all run smoothly and efficiently . There are also several policies that have been put in place to keep the transportation system working for the good of everyone. The agencies involved keep very good records of all the types of transportation that make up the system, which makes it easy for anyone to be able to see all the different statistics associated with the system. The Freight broker business is another important part of the transportation system, the following paragraphs will tell how all these things work together.
A good chunk of people in the Big Apple (New York City) feels that the MTA makes their ride efficient, cheap, easy, and convenient way of getting around town. On a scale of 1-10, N...
Amtrak is a state-owned, for profit, national railroad Company that provides efficient rail service both long and short distance transportation services. Being the primary provider of passenger-rail service in the U.S has a network that connects more than 500 cities and towns in 46 states. It offers long-distance and short-distance service corridors throughout nationwide operating daily, offering several choice of service class – first class sleeping car, custom class and economic services for different age groups with different travel needs. Amtrak receives federal funds to be used for their operating expenses. Its ridership and revenue growth have progressively increased in the past five-year successfully building relationships with the public and customers, recreating branding, and improving new services/quality, and it projects a continued growth in passenger revenue at about 4% per year with modest growth in passenger ridership (Exhibit C4.1, Page 245).
For now the more use are the airlines, buses, or trains. Many people use the airlines to travel to one place to another, and by building the railway it will decrease the number of people who ride the planes and it will decrease the amount of people traveling in car, too. The railway is not only going to decrease the amount of people traveling in planes, cars, or bus but it will also decrease the amount of time people take to travel in this kind of transportations. A reporter says, “Texas central is planning to build a bullet train route that cut between Dallas and Houston, Trimming about 2 hours off the average driving time, and saving over an hour compared to air travel” (“Proposed”). The railways will cut time for passengers to get to their destination but it will have a bad result later on. Some people agree on building this train because it will be faster to get to one place to another, but they are wrong because it will take costumers away from other transportations, and it will have an impact in the increase of how much each ticket cost. It will destroy land from does that live there. Researchers have found that railways benefit economies by bringing competition to transportation because people will be able to choose from all the varieties. The Researchers are wrong because airline will not have the same amount of people as they do before the high-speed train is build. Not only the airlines but bus stations because people will not notice other transportation. The airlines, the cars, and trains companies will change things from their transportations because they will want to be better than the railways. For example, technology or even the ticket prices. All they would want is to be better than the railway, causing more and more competitions, which means people will expand more on buying the transportation
...mpensation for transport is less severe on the consumer's budget. Consequently, Americans who save more money will also be able to better afford the costs of living, which reduces homelessness, a large problem in the U.S.
Automobiles play a major role in today's society. Almost every American owns at least one motorized transportation vehicle. Some say they make our lives better by reaching places faster than before. Others say they are a harmful to the environment. Have they made our society better or worse? They may be fast, but do we as humans want our environment to suffer because of time. Face it, cars pollute. And they release destructive chemicals into the air. Air pollution can threaten the health of many subjects in the environment including human beings.
For example, the rising levels of congestion and air pollution found in most of the world cities can be attributed directly to the rapidly increasing number of private cars in use. In order to reverse this decline in the quality of life in cities, attempts must be made to encourage people to use their cars less and public transport more. Without action, the complete downfall of public transit in Ohio will be inevitable. Losing the public transit systems will not only affect American households do not have a car and lack access to public transit but also those who drive. Without public transportation, people would be less likely to find and keep jobs and traffic congestion will increase.
Public transportation is an essential part of a city. A good public transit can encourage a city’s economic activities and can provide its citizen a convenient life. Does our Phoenix public transit work well? Does it provide sufficient service to the citizen? From my experience, the answer is no. This November I tried to attend the popular State Fair in Phoenix. However, I found that there were not any buses or metros could take me to the fair directly. It means I need 2 hours or more spend on the public transits. As the sixth most populous city nationwide (“Phoenix Quick Fact” 1), compared with Los Angeles and other big cities in America, Phoenix’s public transportation is indeed subpar. Due to Los Angeles has 154 bus lines and 30 metros (“Schedule”), New York has 316 bus lines and 28 subways(“Maps & Timetables”), while Phoenix only has 98 bus lines, and the number of metro line is only one! (“Route Schedules & Maps”) The problem is
Should students take advantage of the public transportation more seriously than owning a car? The public transportation can solves to numerous problems; the bus transportation can be a universal antidote for bigger issues such as global warming. By taking the bus can save students’ time and money, rather than students who have a car have deal with traffic and expensive parking fee. Students who own a car might experience sitting in such a long traffic, where during the traffic cars may produce noxious gases relieving particle of air that can contribute the affect to human health. The public transportation is the best solution for an enormous population of students, so students’ needs to get on the transit a try. The transition system in the
In this essay, I will discuss the topic of urban public transportation and how it relates to the Church and Wellesley BIA. The nature of transportation in Toronto is a highly complex topic. As discussed in the article Transportation: The Bottleneck of Regional Competitiveness in Toronto, there are many concerns with transportation in regards to international transport, roads, highways, rails, bike lanes, buses etc. (Keil, Roger, Young, 2008). These transportation variables all have a greater economic, health, and environmental impact. The article goes on to describe that mobility in Toronto suffers because its management is uncoordinated, and there is a gap in regional interaction (Keil, Roger, Young 2008). The scope of this essay will be to
Most people take the urban public transportation system for granted. It is used in every aspect of our daily lives: work, education, medical necessities, recreation, etc. It is also important for the transportation of goods and services, which aids the growth and maintenance of our economy. Urban public transportation is the critical component of our quality of life and economic stability. The MBTA, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, is Boston and Eastern Massachusetts’s major transportation service. The MBTA has played a central role in the development of Boston and surrounding cities and towns for more than a century; providing service from 175 cities and towns into Boston. On an average weekday over 1.2 million trips are made on the subway, buses, commuter lines and other services in the mass transit system. With an international airport, a ship port, the highways, and the rail lines to connect regional cities and towns to national and international destinations and markets, Boston’s urban public transportation system has made the region’s growing role in the global economy possible.
We all use vehicles for transportation. People usually go to their desired destination either by driving their own cars or traveling in public transportation. Actually, it might be tough to choose that which one is the best selection for people to travel. Many people choose one of them according to their comfort while traveling and both of them have advantages and disadvantages in different conditions. Public transportation and driving own car both shares differences and similarities in many aspects, such as facility, cost, and comfort as well as traffic jam and accident occurrence.
Since the invention of the automobile, we have been able to decrease transportation costs, travel vast distances and decrease travel times. We are able to facilitate relationships, foster trade between places, and find better jobs. However, due to the inaccurate pricing of the roads, driving cars has turned from an innovation to pure frustration. The problem is traffic congestion; the increased usage of cars has created slower speeds and longer travel times due to greater demand for the road than the road has to offer. Roughly 3.4 million Americans endure extreme commutes, in which the trip to work and back eats up at least three hours each day (Balaker, Staley 2006).