Common Sense Things We Can Do To Decrease America’s Reliance On Oil (and Save a Few Bucks) (Part 4 of 10)

Public Transportation

Prior to the 19th century, the suburbs were characterized as where the poorest could afford to live and where work was hardest to find. The invention of the automobile, the post WWII economic boom, and the passing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 put more money in Americans’ pockets and encouraged the exodus of families from the crowded cities to the suburbs. How things have changed. The increased congestion on our highways coupled with the increased price of fuel has many Americans rethinking their commuting experience. Buying hybrids and driving smarter only goes so far in conserving fuel if you work and drive in a city stuck in grid lock five hours a day. Mass transit, take center stage!

Larger, older, mostly Northeastern cities, like New York, Boston, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia have always relied on public transportation (commuter rail, subway, bus) to move the city. It is an efficient, cost-effective way to move people, especially in towns that grew-up before the invention of the automobile. But even here, mass transit has experienced a revival over the last decade. In this year alone, cities with established mass transit systems, like New York or Boston, report ridership up 5% or more. But the largest increases have been in the South and West where gains between 10 to 15% have been reported. This can be attributed solely to the cost of fuel approaching four dollars a gallon. Skeptics of mass transit will point out that today’s automobiles out perform the aging diesel driven trains and buses. While this is true at face value, consolidating commuters on one mode of transportation is still greener and more fuel efficient, and the biggest motivator, CHEAPER than driving oneself. And newer, greener trains and buses (Seattle, Iceland) are coming on line.

But why have some cities lagged behind others in embracing public transportation? Why has a city like Indianapolis (metro pop. 1.6 million), a few miles to the Southeast of mass transit friendly Chicago, not adopted a commuter rail system? I’m going to take a sidestep now and give a little history because for someone who is only witness to the Indianapolis of now and not familiar with the Indianapolis of the early 1900s, it turns out these are the wrong questions to ask. At one time Indianapolis had a vibrant mass transit system built on rails, so much so that Indianapolis was known as “Railroad City.” At the beginning of the 20th century, Indianapolis boasted 340 electric streetcars, was servicing 200 passenger trains per day at Union Station, and had a fleet of “interurbans”, electric railcars that ran between Indy and the surrounding cities of Anderson, Fort Wayne, Kokomo, South Bend, and Terre Haute. At the time, Indianapolis boasted the largest interurban station in the world, Traction Terminal. During its first week in 1904, which coincided with the State Fair, Traction Terminal handled 10,000 passengers per day.

So what happened? What brought about the downfall of commuter rail? …A barrage of several facters. Railroad infighting played a part. Rail in its hay-day was a mix of privately owned business franchises more interested in turning a profit than serving the surrounding community. The infant automobile industry had a large helping hand from the government. Unlike rail lines, roads were and are still built and maintained with the use of public tax dollars. Anti-competitive business practices by the auto-industry drove more riders to the road. The auto industry and subsidiary companies bought up rail lines and broke them up or turned them into less popular bus services. In 1949, General Motors was found guilty of criminal conspiracy by a federal court and fined a modest sum of $5000. Add in the sense of freedom owning an automobile gives someone coupled with gasoline at a nickel a gallon, and it is easy to see the bleak outlook rail transit faced in cities like Indianapolis.

Indianapolis mass transit is but a breath of what it once was. Amtrak, the only passenger rail service available, makes one daily run through the city. IndyGo, the Indianapolis bus system, runs the old electric streetcar routes. But there is a renewed interest to revisit the rail. I-465, the interstate encircling Indy and the answer to the automobile congestion of the 60s, is now itself crowded as the city continues its outward expansion. IndyGo ridership is up 13.5% in the first quarter of 2008 and a Commuter Express bus line from Fishers and Carmel is seeing increased ridership. A new Express route to and from Greenwood is proposed. The Clarian people mover, an elevated train connecting the downtown hospitals, was completed in the spring of 2003 and is an example of what commuter rail could be. There is interest in a commuter rail line between Noblesville and downtown where seven years ago there was little.

There are hurdles to bringing rail back. One must change people’s attitudes towards mass transit. The independence an automobile provides us has made us dependent on it. Four dollar a gallon gasoline will make the argument easier. Indianapolis does not have the geographic constraints like Chicago or New York City to keep its population centralized (see urban sprawl). This makes it difficult to determine the positioning of rail lines and stations where ridership can be maximized. It will be expensive! Much of the rail infrastructure from the 1900s is long gone. Existing track like that from Noblesville to Indy can provide relatively cost effective stepping stones in the process, though. Showing the utility of commuter rail in these areas could win over skeptics.

I have a personal interest in Indianapolis because I lived and went to school there. I love Indianapolis’s atmosphere. It is a young and vibrant city. It has revitilized its downtown but maintained its historic and ethnic districts. I love the food, the art, the festivals, and the athletics. I have friends and family in Indianapolis. I have lived inside the circle and outside in the burbs. Indianapolis is a great city. …But I hated the driving. It was a daily chore that squeezed much of the fun out of living there. It shouldn’t have to be that way. Why can’t there be another option? Why can’t I look across the breakfast table at my beloved after shoveling a healthy slice of banana granola pancake in my mouth and mumble, “Say honey, you feel like doing some shop’en in Indy?” “Sure,” she’d reply. “But I don’t feel like driving.” “Me neither,” I’d respond. “You want to take the 10:05 and maybe catch a little lunch in Broad Ripple?” “Ya, sounds good,” she’d finish. And then, “What are you eight? Finish chewing before you open your mouth.”

It doesn’t have to be a dream.