10 May 2008

Gas Prices Increase Transit Ridership

NY Times:
Some cities with long-established public transit systems, like New York and Boston, have seen increases in ridership of 5 percent or more so far this year. But the biggest surges — of 10 to 15 percent or more over last year — are occurring in many metropolitan areas in the South and West where the driving culture is strongest and bus and rail lines are more limited.

Nobody believed that people would actually give up their cars to ride public transportation,” said Joseph J. Giulietti, executive director of the authority. “But in the last year, and last several months in particular, we have seen exactly that.”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately we are a very self-interested and short-sighted culture and the only way most people will do the right thing for the greater good is if it is also in their own immediate interest. Public subsidies for car commuters and Mcmansions, the waste and degredation of once productive land, the pollution and destruction of the planet and a war waged for oil are all too remote for many of us to grasp. I hope gas prices continue to increase until all the SUV owners who live in the exurbs are forced to think about the choices they have made and maybe, just maybe, do the right thing.