Living in New York, I enjoy a cost-effective and convenient way of traveling all over the city: urban railroads. Whenever I want to get to my favorite spot in Manhattan, I simply get to the station, tap my iPhone on the reader to pay $2.75, and wait for my subway train. Or, maybe I take the bus. I don’t have to worry about the cost or inconvenience of a car whenever I want to get to where I need to be.
The same cannot be said for the rest of the country. While countries like Japan, China, and a variety of Western European nations have high speed rail systems and public transport for passengers that are not only affordable but more sustainable, America has inconsistent, slow and overall lacking urban transit that leave much to be desired. Considering the benefits of cost, accessibility, and sustainability, American cities must expand and upgrade their public transit systems.
How exactly did we get here, considering that the United States was a trailblazer in railroad technology throughout the 19th century?
The answer comes from the rise of the automobile and the government’s response. After the Great Depression, most federal funding of transportation went to roads and highways as the automobile became more prominent. Unfortunately, urban transit never caught up, and it got left to the sands of time.
It’s not like America doesn’t have the capability or technology for quick and large scale transit systems within cities. Our freight train system enjoys fast travel times and profits that other nations only dream of. Furthermore, according to transit consultant Jarrett Walker, cities in Canada such as Edmonton, Vancouver, and Winnipeg are “culturally and economically…very similar” to cities in America such as Salt Lake City, Portland, and Des Moines respectively, and they have effective public transport systems.
As a country, we definitely have the means and technology. The federal and city/state governments simply just do not invest enough into a public transit system for urban areas.
Expanded public railways in cities like Dallas could positively impact low-income communities like McAllen, Texas, a county near Dallas, by connecting people to more opportunities for jobs and education and lowering costs for transportation due to automobiles. On a grander scale, using 2019 data, if cities throughout the United States implemented the same scale of public transit that, for example, Chicago implemented, the mean increase in per capita transit vehicle revenue miles (the miles of total public transportations services divided by the number of people) would increase by 131% while the expenditures would only rise 35.1%. Case in point, the social benefit would far outweigh the cost.
The environment also plays a role in the case for increased urban railroads. As the climate crisis continues to creep up on our society, scientists grapple with different ways to tackle the problem. Expanding public transport in cities exists as perhaps one of the most agreed-upon solutions in terms of effectiveness. According to a paper by UCLA, public transport has the potential to lower CO2 emissions by about 45% compared to cars and save an estimated 37 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Ideally, in order to truly maximize the environmental benefits, the United States should take an approach similar to Japan, a country that has a high-speed urban rail network that runs almost entirely on electricity. Their system allows Japan’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions to be below half that of America.
While the costs may seem initially high to invest in sustainable technology, the returns are far more rewarding than the costs are steep. The World Research Institute finds that though the initial investment would be hefty, the savings would be estimated at $300 billion if the entire world commits to sustainable urban transportation development. America would be a large portion of that saving, as our nation accounts for such a large portion of the world population relative to most other nations. Sustainable urban transportation acts as not only a means of saving the environment but also a potential for long-term savings.
America has recently taken steps in the right direction, with the passing of the Investment and Jobs Act, which plans to modernize and upgrade public transit to be more accessible and sustainable. Still, this bill provides no provisions for actual new developments of public transit in untapped areas.
It’s about time our nation catches up with the rest of its peers and develops more urban transit. For the sake of low-income neighborhoods, the environment, and long-term savings, expanding public transportation is a must.