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ChineseGas Prices and the Transit Surge on the TODAY Show
Contributed by Fred Camino on May 13th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Discussion
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Ah, I love that nowhere among those lists was Los Angeles public transit ridership mentioned.
This is a “surge” I can actually support!
It might have not been mentioned but it’s definitely part of the trend. I have never seen so many transit users in L. A. before, except for when they open a new line and have free rides.
It’s funny that people are just now noticing that driving is expensive!
Gas is still not the biggest part of the cost. Certainly not enough that the increase from ~$3.50 to ~$4.00 would motivate you to change habits for purely economic reasons.
Maybe people are adjusting their habits preemptively under the (probaly correct) assumption that gas’ll be $10/gal before too long and they’d better start finding out about other ways of getting around before they actually have to.
Or maybe it’s a combination of gas prices and concern about global warming. Economics and principles can work together to motivate people in ways that neither one could do alone.
It’s not just gasoline. It’s insurance, car payment, maintenance, registration and parking. The lost time due to congestion is not always greater than the longer commute on transit. A $70 EZ Pass is much cheaper than the monthly total combined cost of a car payment, gasoline, maintenance, registration, insurance and parking. A $70 EZ Pass plus the cost of a few taxi rides a months is still much cheaper for many people.
Dan, if you already own a car, insurance, car payments, registration, and a part of maintenance/depreciation are sunk costs, you pay for them whether you drive the car a little or a lot.
If you already own a car, as many people in LA do, these do not factor into your decision to take public transit at all. They are only a factor if you don’t have a car, or if you are planning to get rid of your car. And I doubt many people are planning to get rid of their car, even in this climate.
I am a big supporter of mass transit in Los Angeles, but our transit system isn’t big enough or fast enough for me to recommend to everyone that they get rid of their cars. This isn’t New York.
While I certainly commend people who have ditched their cars, I do believe that owning one, and then park and riding, when it is convenient to do so, is the best course of action at this point in this region.
I see today’s climate of high gas prices as a reason to expand our rail network in meaningful ways. I feel that while it’s better than nothing, our broken light rail system could be much better. Use this opportunity to push for better expansions, upgrades, and new lines.
I take mass transit to LA from Orange County when it is feasible. But when I’m scheduled to work hours when taking mass transit would be unreasonable or impossible, I have to drive. If I didn’t have a car, I wouldn’t have this job, plain and simple.
Living in Southern California I fear that if I didn’t have a car, so many doors would slam in my face. What if I land that great job in an area that has no rail service and piss poor bus service? That’s an opportunity lost. Again, this isn’t New York.
Having said that, mass transit is still a bargain compared to gas, parking, and it keeps miles off your car. I prefer taking the train to the physical act of driving. It’s not only safer statistically, but it’s less crazy.
I enjoy myself on the train. I listen to my favorite radio show that I record with my mp3 player. I study for exams. I work on articles for a web site I write for.
I just wish the Los Angeles transit system was such that I could recommend to everyone to dump their car in a river somewhere. I find LA’s selfish car culture disgusting and Orange County is no better.
This report was nice to hear.
I’ve got to mention it, even though this is a post about transit: the Bike Oven has been SLAMMED with people since gas prices shot up again a few weeks ago.
The Bike Oven is a bicycle repair collective in Highland Park. We sell bikes the our volunteers rebuild, we also teach people how to fix their own bikes – and the number of people washing up at our doorstep has been growing at a rate we can no longer deal with.
So, along with transit ridership, I think that another bike boom is on in the U.S.
hey msnbc. here is the real story – more people riding transit systems that will soon have to reduce their operations due to budget cuts, thus forcing people back into their cars and solving nothing.
it is apparent that this country’s aversion to planning ahead is bearing fruit on many levels.
From an editorial today by Paul Krugman in the New York Times entitled “Stranded in Suburbia”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/opinion/19krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
“There have been many news stories in recent weeks about Americans who are changing their behavior in response to expensive gasoline — they’re trying to shop locally, they’re canceling vacations that involve a lot of driving, and they’re switching to public transit.
But none of it amounts to much. For example, some major public transit systems are excited about ridership gains of 5 or 10 percent. But fewer than 5 percent of Americans take public transit to work, so this surge of riders takes only a relative handful of drivers off the road.
Any serious reduction in American driving will require more than this — it will mean changing how and where many of us live.
To see what I’m talking about, consider where I am at the moment: in a pleasant, middle-class neighborhood consisting mainly of four- or five-story apartment buildings, with easy access to public transit and plenty of local shopping.
It’s the kind of neighborhood in which people don’t have to drive a lot, but it’s also a kind of neighborhood that barely exists in America, even in big metropolitan areas. Greater Atlanta has roughly the same population as Greater Berlin — but Berlin is a city of trains, buses and bikes, while Atlanta is a city of cars, cars and cars.
And in the face of rising oil prices, which have left many Americans stranded in suburbia — utterly dependent on their cars, yet having a hard time affording gas — it’s starting to look as if Berlin had the better idea.”
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