Public Transit Global Update: UK

Last Wednesday, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England delivered her speech at the State Opening of British Parliament, rebroadcast on C-SPAN here in the former colonies. Among the numerous aims and goals set forth for the United Kingdom's newest legislative session:

- Granting free off-peak bus service to British pensioners

- Expansion of public transportation

Constitutional though the British monarchy may be, the Queen still remains the British head of state, and to hear a head of state directly address these concerns was rather refreshing. Never have I heard President Bush or anyone within his administration make any attempt to spark reform of public transportation. If these issues do not get brushed aside among the other items on the British legislature's agenda--many involving internal security--America may be brought closer to learning a thing or two from what is traditionally her closest ally.

Midterm Elections

As we are all doubtlessly aware, the American voting populace opted for sweeping changes in the federal legislature last tuesday, placing the majority of both houses of congress into the hands of the Democratic Party. What effect this will have on the nation's public transit networks, if any, has yet to be determined. Yes, it is true that of the two major political parties in this country, the Democrats are traditionally more inclined to favor public services and government agencies, and the Republicans have often spoke out against Amtrak and federal funding for local networks.

However, this is by no means an absolute step forward from a mass transit perspective. The election, after all, is being almost universally described as a referendum on Iraq, and the only peripheral hot-button issues on the campaigns that I saw were immigration reform and removing the Republicans from power. If the Democrats can somehow make all of our Iraqi woes vanish (quite a feat), then maybe the government can finally turn its full attention to domestic matters of surging importance, each conveniently with its own secretary in the cabinet: health, education, energy, and transportation.

In my opinion, the fate of the American railroad is linked to the nation's energy initiatives. Electric-powered rail lines will be faster and quieter than their diesel counterparts, but if this power is coming from oil-, gas-, and bituminous coal-burning power plants, it will not be cleaner, and the environmental benefits of passenger rail networks will be inconsequential at best. The Department of Energy has already found the discrepancy in some public transportation networks' energy cost per passenger-mile when compared to cars. Significant use of alternative and renewable energy sources is therefore a prerequisite for any meaningful progress in rail-based public transportation on any scale.

So now we have our first step identified: energy independence and reform. The political party most likely to get us there just took the legislative branch of the federal government. The ball is in your court now, Democrats. Don't drop it.

Ridership Incentives

One of the hardest things to do in any public transit system is to make it attractive for people to use it. Oftentimes this manifests itself in station renovation, equipment facelifts, special fares, etc. (New York will most likely be air-conditioning their stations in the future). Personally, sweeping service extensions--perhaps funded by a gas tax for extra effect--would do the trick for me. Naturally, a gas tax is unrealistic at best, but eventually gas prices will be high enough to eliminate the need for taxes, and prompt would-be regular drivers to seek alternatives. By then we had better hope there are improved transit networks in place, or mobility as we know it could grind to an 18th-century-style stop for much of the country.

At any rate, the town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has a pretty nifty strategy to make public transit appealing to the masses: Make it free. There's no need for a gas tax or any other restriction on automobile transit; you just can't beat a free ride, period.

An aside: In last week's post, I neglected to wish a happy 102nd birthday (10/27) to New York's Interboro Rapid Transit subway, still going strong with two eyes on the future.