Examining America’s Public Transportation

By Mitchell Nazareth ’23

In America, public transportation is the backbone of the population, as it is responsible for transporting many people both inside and outside of major cities. Without public transportation, there is no basis or expectation for the movement of the American people throughout individual states, and the country as a whole. Although this is such an integral part of the American experience, public transportation has been disregarded as a result of rising car infrastructure, and an influx in suburban planning, wreaking havoc on the planning and execution of public transportation. Despite this disregard, public transportation has come back as a way to resolve many of the issues regarding transportation’s effectiveness, and emissions, as climate change becomes an increasingly important factor in deciding how people move around the globe. Because of this, it is important to be informed about why public transportation is so important, what caused it to fall out of the spotlight, and what changes can be made to better our environment, and citizens.

Suburban planning and car infrastructure is the number one destroyer of public transportation in the United States of America. This is evident as it is found that over ninety-five percent of American households own a car, and over eighty percent use their car to commute to work, as reported in 2010 by the article “Does Everybody Own a Car?” by Robert Chase. This number can be quite staggering, as it is one of the highest in developed nations around the globe, especially when compared to nations with strong public transportation, like Japan, Germany, Korea, and Norway. Cars becoming so widely available in the United States may sound excellent for the American economy, as it means more people making large financial investments, but the reason for these investments may cause turbulence in that train of thought. Currently, more Americans are invested in cars than ever before, especially as advancements in electric cars are on the rise. However, this interest in cars dates back to the creation of the United States suburbs. Suburbs began after World War II, when Americans wanted to move out from urban inner city apartments into sprawling homes, with large and winding streets lined with single family homes, a backyard, and a family. The American dream was finally attainable for working class white families, who moved into the suburbs in flocks, only going back into the crowded city to work or buy necessities. Cars allowed people to live wherever they pleased, and as a result, roads were paved and homes were built with the expectation that everyone living inside them would have a car. However, this notion has become increasingly false.

Cars have an undeniable effect on the planet and its temperature, as they directly spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, causing heat to be retained in the Earth's atmosphere. This change in temperature has been observed and marked by NASA, in their long running article “Global Temperature,” which gives accurate data regarding the recent heating of the Earth. This article shows a large increase in temperature readings since the 1880s, showing the result of industrial expansion, and includes an extreme spike from the late 1940s that was previously never apparent. This spike can be partly attributed to the expansion of car culture and increasing development of the United States,

where many areas were deforested and paved over to create the suburbs we see now. Since then, there has been legislation from the United States which hopes to curb the tailpipe emissions that are directly contributed to car’s. While these are all good things to observe and contribute towards, it does not exempt the overarching issue, which is that cars are not an efficient form of transportation for any large population of people. They weigh multiple tons, and waste too much energy for the transportation of one person. The problem of weight can be reduced by the use of carpooling, but the fact remains that there are better means of large scale transportation in cities and suburbs.

The solution to this problem is a more developed public transport system. Having wider bus networks, which run more regularly, with intermittent stops between high population centers, increases the usability of those buses, and also contributes to lowered traffic congestion. Additionally, the use of subways in cities within the United States, like Boston and New York City, have proven that implementation is possible and successful. Expanding the interconnectivity of a subway system like in Japan or Europe would help encourage people to get out of their cars and walk down the street into a subway, which also provides cheap and simple transportation for children or the unlicensed. If people had to worry less about the distance of their location from the closest subway, and worry more about the cost effectiveness of the subway system in comparison to their car, America would have much more travel through public transportation. Currently, only five percent of the American population travels the country through public transportation, as reported by Robert Chase. This number proves that American public transportation is a shell of its potential, and is the leading cause of American car culture.

Image of American Highway. Builderspace.com, https:// www.builderspace.com/5-reasons-why-u-s-roads-are-inbad-shape.

If people truly want to reduce climate change, car traffic, and lower the potential for climate change, it begins by building upon the insufficient foundation of public transportation that is available today in the United States of America. Updating our infrastructure, bus routes, subway availability, and train infrastructure, is crucial to move citizens away from the car dependent lives which many lead today. Without these things, nothing will change the circumstances many Americans are saddled with, as they are forced to buy cars to maneuver throughout society.

Works Cited Chase, Robin. Does Everyone in America Own a Car? Embassy of the United States of America, Mar. 2010, https:// static.america.gov/uploads/sites/8/2016/04/You-Asked-Series_Does-Everyone-in-America-Own-aCar_English_Lo-Res_508.pdf. “City and Suburb.” National Museum of American History, National Museum of American History Behring Center, 15 Apr. 2019, https://americanhistory.si.edu/america-on-the-move/city-and-suburb. “Global Surface Temperature.” NASA, NASA, 20 Sept. 2022, https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/globaltemperature/.