Mass transit=more pollution

 

National Library of Australia from Canberra, Australia, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Those mostly empty light rail trains trundling down the tracks are actually environmental menaces, claims author and transit expert Randal O’Toole. He revealed some inconvenient transit truths last weekend at a seminar hosted by SHIFT Bay Area, here summarized by AI.

Damning environmental data

“The transit lobby bombards us with propaganda claiming that public transportation is the sole ‘green’ salvation for our congested cities. We are told it is a vital, eco-friendly alternative to the gridlock of modern highways. However, the data reveals a starkly different, more expensive reality. Most transit actually uses as much energy and emits as much or more greenhouse gases than the average car.” ~Randal O’Toole

Runaway dollars-per-mile

“The scale of taxpayer spending compared to the actual utility of transit is staggering. Since 1965, transit subsidies have totaled roughly $1.5 trillion, which amounts to $ 2.5 trillion in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars. The Reality Check: Transit subsidies are now more than 200 times greater per passenger-mile than highway subsidies. Despite this unprecedented wealth transfer, the results are abysmal. Between 1965 and 2019, the number of rides taken per urban resident dropped by 50%. We are pouring trillions into a system that carries half as many people per capita as it did sixty years ago.” ~Randal O’Toole

Are trains for rich people?

“Transit advocates frequently claim that subsidies are a lifeline for the poor. The American Community Survey data suggests this is a fantasy. In the Bay Area, the majority of transit commuters earn over $75,000 per year. Conversely, 90% of people earning under $25,000 do not use transit to get to work. Because these systems are largely funded by regressive sales taxes, low-income residents are disproportionately paying for a service they do not use, effectively subsidizing the commutes of wealthy tech workers.” ~Randal O’Toole

Watch the whole video here.

Follow SHIFT Bay Area’s Substack here.

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