#40: Public Transportation

Those of you who know me know that I'm a big advocate for public tranportation. There is good public transportation is many places such as London, Paris, Chicago, New York City, Peru, and Ecuador. This should be a more widespread thing. I know it costs money in taxes to put together public transportation in a city, but it costs way less to use public tranportation than to pay for a car, car insurance, car maintenance, parking, gas, etc. More people should be inclined to use public transit, and if every city had really good public transit, then maybe people would be more inclined to use it. It's not only a good idea for monetary reasons, but it's way better for the environment.

I went to a public meeting for the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board, and one concern they had was that politicians are trying to cut funding to MARTA. At the meeting, I received a flyer with a list of great benefits from utilizing public transportation:
1. Saving your family up to $820 a month, nearly $10,000 per year, on transportation costs.
2. Easing traffic congestion on our roads.
3. Keeping our roads safer - Riding a bus is 91 times safer than car travel.
4. Reducing gas consumption and dependence on foreign oil.
5. Improving the air we breathe by reducing car pollution.
6. Stimulating our economy - Every $1 invested in public transportation generates $4 in economic returns.

So what's the problem? Why aren't we investing in public transit? It's because people want taxes to be as low as possible, and lots of people in charge of giving different programs funding believe that people won't ride public transit even if we create a good system. They fear all the money and hard work will go to waste. Well, if that's true, which it might be, then we really need to change the way we think. We need to stop being high maintenance Americans and start making things better, for the sake of the environment, the economy, our own health, our money, our safety, and our future. Another reason some people oppose public transportation is because they believe the government should be involved in the public's lives as little as possible. I believe this too - as long as nothing is infringing on the rights and safety of others. Well, we have all kinds of serious issues right now, including environmental issues, economic issues, traffic issues, air quality issues, monetary issues, etc. These are some serious problems that could easily be solved by putting money in the right places, and I think this is the right place to invest our money.

This is a map of the London Tube... It extends several hours outside the city and takes passengers very far. Also, as is evident, there are tons of entrances to the Tube, and there are lots or trains running all the time, all over the place.

In contrast to the London Tube, this is a map of MARTA in Atlanta. Obviously, it doesn't hold a candle to London's fantastic public transportation system. We need to change this, all over the world.