One way that more public transit will help to improve the environment is the reduction in gasoline used to power personal cars and the reduction in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, produced by cars. Buses, of course, burn oil and produce carbon dioxide. But, compared to personal cars, they produce far less per person, assuming that more than a very few people are on the bus.
Light rail will produce even less pollution and consume less energy per person.
A less obvious way that public transportation reduces pollution and gasoline consumption is the reduction of road congestion. Cars burn gasoline and produce pollution while waiting at an intersection or waiting to turn onto a busy street. If congestion is reduced by drivers giving up their cars for a bus or train, oil consumption and production of CO2 and other pollution will be reduced.
2 comments:
John,
You are correct that transit has the potential of reducing the consumption of gasoline and the production of CO2 by cars.
However, that only helps if we get drivers out of their cars and onto buses. If people do not, and cannot, take the bus, the bus does us no good. The environmental benefits apply only to the extent that we can get people to use the bus.
Ann
It would seem that if the transportation system was built, particularly the rail part, people would use it. Why would someone want to drive a car, pay for gas, have to find and/or pay for parking, when they could hop on a train and get to their work in just a few minutes.
Richard
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