Why Dumping the Pump Won’t Work
Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor
This week is the 5th Annual National Dump the Pump Day. It’s a great effort to get people out of their cars and onto public transit. Unfortunately, as it is currently it’s doomed to failure.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Dump the Pump Day is an awesome idea and one that the transit industry needs to fully embrace. The problem is that as it seems to me, we’re not reaching the right people or we’re not reaching enough of them.
President Obama spoke last night on (among other things) our addiction to foreign oil, “For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered. For decades, we’ve talked and talked about the need to end America’s century-long addiction to fossil fuels. And for decades, we have failed to act with the sense of urgency that this challenge requires.â€
A sense of urgency is the least of our problems. It’s the sense of disdain transit gets in comparison to highways that I feel we need to overcome. Somewhere along the line cars have been partnered up with guns in the “you can have it when you pry it from my cold dead hands†category.
APTA released a press release today showcasing the ways switching to transit can save you money. Within it there was a “Top Twenty Cities — Transit Savings Report†list. What interested me about the list wasn’t how much you could save from switching to transit (we all know transit is fiscally sound), but the cities on the list.
Of the 20 cities listed, seven of them aren’t in the top 25 when it comes to population. That’s good news for the mid-size cities out there — you don’t need to be a megalopolis to justify a good transit system. Of course, four of the top ten most populous cities (Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Jose) didn’t make the list despite healthy and growing transit systems.
So what does this all add up to? It means that Dump the Pump Day while a great idea is fighting a pitched battle against the “cold dead hands†people that may not be working. Sure transit ridership at its highest level in decades, but that’s just not good enough.
Think about it for a second. If you want to expand a highway from two lanes to four, there is hardly any argument from the general populace — even if that means lengthy construction delays and major reworking of the landscape. But suggest putting in a rail line and it becomes a holy crusade against the evils of transit — even if the feds are paying for it.
When did transit become evil?
In this week’s Transit Talk, the esteemed Al Engel says, “High-speed rail is not just a good, environmentally friendly, economically advantageous idea. It is also a patriotic imperative.â€
He’s right … almost. He shouldn’t have stopped at high-speed rail.
A great transit network shouldn’t be an initiative of the current administration. Hell, it shouldn’t even be a matter for political debate. It should be a manifest destiny for our nation.
The United States prides itself (to amazing levels of ego at times) on being the best country in the world. So why are we willing to take it on the chin when it comes to transit?
Dump the Pump Day works, but it will fail unless we make it not just a holiday for transit agencies, but a sober reminder of what we need to do to keep our world a better place for everyone today and tomorrow.
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Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
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June 18th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Fred,
While transit does save money, in mdeium sized cities, it usually requires more time. In my case, using transit to reach my destination takes twice as long as driving.
If you put a monetary value on this time, transit doesn’t fair so well. It is a valid comparison, as transit proponents promote the reports of time lost spent sitting in congestion. The time lost riding transit, would seem like a valid argument that one of transit’s main problems is speed.
For medium sized cities, it is time to put the mass back in mass transit, and stop trying to be all things to all people. This results in cab like service for the few, while the masses continue to drive.
June 18th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Fred,
For transit to be on the road to recovery it needs to transform into a consumer-driven service. (see TCRP Report 97). For transit to compete with cars it needs to be part of an integrated family of mobility services oriented to consumers. This is hard work, but then, we are a decade into a new century!
June 19th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Transit will never be the top choice until it is portrayed as such in pop culture. We have allowed our transit systems to be portrayed with seedy characters, dirt and grime, and overpaid-and-underworked employees. How can we complain about people not riding when we don’t advertise a desirable ride?
June 21st, 2010 at 11:59 am
I agree with your statement that we may not be reaching the right people. The right people would be those who do have relatively good access to the buses and/or trains that travel through their neighborhoods and their destinations, not to mention time schedules; however, too many of these individuals fail to use transit. Others may have Park and Ride facilities nearby that would provide (usually secured parking or parking in a highly visible area that deters crime targeted at vehicles). Though transit is not a good fit for everyone, there are many individuals that could benefit from using transit service.
These individuals would make a big difference on our dependency of our treasured automobiles by riding transit at least one day of the week. Eventually, they may even enjoy riding as I do. Many times, rather than going to work early or staying late, I prefer to do work while riding. I call this value-added time as I am being productive while only extending my arrival home slightly and not having to drive home after staying late at work. Other times when I don’t have work to do on the bus, I can enjoy the ride while reading, listening to music, or even conversing with some wonderful passengers. One of the better realized benefits is not having the stress that most drivers feel in dealing with traffic, which I now recognize every now and then when I do drive to/from work.
But how do we get the message out to the right people? I also see this as another reason why Dump the Pump doesn’t work. Our marketing of transit needs quite a bit of improvement and refinement mostly due to our society’s typical way of thinking (or maybe not thinking) about transit and its benefits.