Green Options

Actor and activist Matthew Modine recently posted a very inspiring essay celebrating his love for the bicycle on the Huffington Post website. He explains that:

Just as tobacco has killed millions with different forms of cancer, the automobile industry and the pollution that has spewed from exhaust pipes ever since Henry Ford’s Model ‘A’ rolled off the assembly line, must be looked upon as a carton of cigarettes and a cancer to civilization. The automobile industry should not be bailed out so it can continue to manufacture the same product. The automobile industry should be transformed into an industry that builds non-combustion engines. They should be given contracts to build new light rail trains that can carry passengers comfortably and safely. And the light rail cars should have bike racks so passengers can get home from commutes too long to be made by bicycle. Imagine how many jobs could be created if the US supported light and heavy rail systems. The car is a mode of transportation that cannot propel itself or our country into the future. The burning of fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine is dead. Raise your glass to self-propulsion! Long live the bicycle.

Compared to most other industrialized countries, the rail infrastructure system in the United States is only in its most stunted infancy. President Obama’s stimulus package, however, is now going to help bring our nation’s transit system into the 21st century. Nine billion dollars has been allocated over the next five years to begin building a faster and cleaner high speed rail network that will not only provide many needed jobs, but will also give us more sustainable transit options and [...]

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on the Clean Fleet Report on April 7, 2009.

Intermodal solutions allow people to effectively navigate major cities such as New York, Washington D.C., Paris, Madrid, and Tokyo. Subway and light-rail are especially effective, but expensive to build. As cities grow, change, and morph, not every potential route can be served with subway and light-rail. Bus rapid transit is a cost effective way to duplicate some of the benefits of light-rail, at a fraction of the capital expenditure. Buses, taxis, car sharing, bicycling, and walking are all parts of the solution. For many, cars are their preferred way to get around, yet if all transportation were cars then cities would be frozen in gridlock.

High-speed rail integrates all these systems together and moves people from city to city at high-speed. When the distance is only a few hundred miles, high-speed rail coupled with city transit beats airplane and car every time.

Now an 800 mile high-speed rail network is being started in California. Because it depends on local and public-private partnership funding, as well as state and federal funding, it will be built in sections. First online are likely to be areas that are currently overwhelmed with passenger vehicles crawling on freeways that should be renamed “slowways.” Likely to be among the first in service are the Orange County - Los Angeles section and the San Jose - San Francisco section.

San Jose provides an example of current transportation problems as well as the future promise of high-speed rail integrated with intermodal solutions. Currently, during rush hour, cars crawl from all directions into San Jose, the self-proclaimed capital of Silicon Valley. Vehicles overload some of the nation’s busiest highways - 680, 880, 101, 280, 87, and 17.

I have to admit that I’m a little embarrased. Yesterday, I gushed about Atlanta’s great green future, and then today, The Atlanta Jounral Constitution published this:

Without new revenue sources from the state or region…MARTA will be forced to dramatically reduce service levels, eliminating bus routes, cutting rail service (either certain days or times, or entire lines altogether), and potentially seriously impacting the overall economic well-being of this region and state.

This is from a memo that MARTA sent to state lawmakers. Atlanta’s transit system has been dealing with a $60 million budget shortfall since December. That, combined with a dramatic decrease in predicted sales tax revenue for the coming year have put the system into crisis. For a transit system funded entirely by sales tax revenue, it’s not surprising that MARTA is having trouble making ends meet. MARTA is one of the few, if not the only, transit systems in the nation that does not receive a penny of state funding.

More people than ever are now using mass transit in the United States. Ridership on trains, buses, ferries and subways is at record levels, according to a survey just released by the American Public Transportation Association. Their study reports that, “despite falling gas prices and an economic recession, increasing numbers of Americans took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation in 2008, the highest level of ridership in 52 years and a modern ridership record”, and a 4% increase from [...]

Now is the time for an increase in our national gas tax to fund improvements in our transportation infrastructure and save a dieing manufacturing base.

Spain’s sleek new high-speed trains have stolen hundreds of thousands of passengers from airlines over the last year, slashing carbon emissions and marking a radical change in the way Spaniards travel.

Passenger numbers on fuel-guzzling domestic flights fell 20% in the year to November as commuters and tourists swapped cramped airline seats for the space and convenience of the train, according to figures released yesterday.

High-speed rail travel - boosted by the opening of a line that slashed the journey time from Madrid to Barcelona to 2 hours 35 minutes in February - grew 28% over the same period. About 400,000 travellers shunned airports and opted for the 220mph AVE trains.

Last year’s drop in air travel, which was also helped by new high-speed lines from Madrid to Valladolid, Segovia and Malaga, marks the beginning of what experts say is a revolution in Spanish travel habits.

Although Amtrak may be a greener choice for travel, some questions still remain about the company’s overall environmental policies. Trains are not money-makers and Amtrak is no exception. From the sounds of it, they are cutting some of their greener practices to shave a little off their expenses, but at what cost to the environment?

Shibuya Station is one of Japan’s busiest transit hubs. Its futuristic “spaceship” design, by environmentalist and architect Tadao Ando, boasts a number of green features.

Shibuya Station is a vital hub in Tokyo’s transit network, linking trains and subways with bicycles (the station provides a bicycle parking space), buses and the always heavy Tokyo pedestrian traffic. On the average weekday, the station sees over two million passengers, making it one of the busiest rail stations in Japan.

In a sweeping proposal intended to create jobs, inject life into the state’s economy, repair infrastructure, and bring Oregon’s transportation network into the 21st century, Governor Ted Kulongoski unveiled more than $1 billion in road, rail, bridge, mass transit and port funding yesterday.

The new transportation investments would be paid for with a myriad of tax and fee hikes, including:

• a 2-cent per gallon gas tax increase
• doubling the vehicle titling fee to $110
• raising the vehicle registration fee from $27 per year to $81 per year
• creating a first-time fee of $100 for titling cars new to the state
• raising the tobacco tax by 2½ cents

The plan also calls for borrowing $600 million and using and additional $16 million in lottery money.

John Podesta is no stranger to politics. He was the Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2001 and he’s held countless positions as advisers to various other politicians. He’s also currently the President and CEO of the D.C. think tank, the Center for American Progress, which, just over a month ago, published the report “Green Recovery: A New Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy.“

It’s no coincidence, then, that Barack Obama has already tapped Podesta as the leader of his transition team to get a head start on getting this country back on track. And with Podesta’s appointment, it should be blaringly apparent that a Green Recovery — a Green Deal, if you will — is going to be the keystone of Obama’s plan.

In fact, Obama has already stated this in countless speeches, but his appointment of Podesta backs up his words with substance.