Mass Transit Doesn't Have to Kill Our Love Affair With Cars
Categories: Krist Novoselic: Contention & Conscious
It's hard to overstate the fact that 20th-century America was the age of the automobile. We had a romance with our cars, with a near-custom set of accessories to match every individual and lifestyle. But behind the lust there were huge expenses, both fiscally and culturally. The car as king in the United States led to the growth of the suburbs, strip malls, culs-de-sac, and miles of boulevards that define modern America--not to mention a growing dependence on oil from insecure regions around the world.
We sometimes forget that transportation is only a secondary task. How we get somewhere isn't nearly as important as what we do when we get there. Our primary goal is about what's happening at our destination: work, band practice, school, a dentist appointment. Fortunately, Americans are looking beyond their two-car garage to get around, and increasingly turning to mass transit. But that doesn't mean America's--and certainly not my own--love of the automobile has to disappear.
Before Nirvana became popular, my individual transportation was what you would expect of a nearly broke bass player: Volkswagens from the 1960s. These well-built cars get great gas mileage and are easy to fix. I once bought a 1965 VW bus that didn't run for $100. I put another cheap used engine in it and drove it all over! Eventually I drove it from Tacoma to Los Angeles for the session at which Nirvana recorded Nevermind. Instead of driving it back, I sold it for $400. (Check out the prices an old VW bus is getting today.) Back in those days, I didn't even have a credit card, the state didn't mandate car insurance, and gas was around a dollar a gallon. My personal transportation costs were very small.
In 1996, I came to terms with my rockstardom--sort of--and bought
a brand new Mercedes Benz. It was an E300 with a diesel that got 40
mpg. (I still tinker on old VW bugs, but only as a hobby--a way to
clear my mind.) When I lived in Seattle, I used to leave the Benz at
home to take public transportation. It took just as little time, or
even less, to ride the bus than to drive.
More
people, seemingly, are starting to recognize the benefits of public
transportation, leaving their beloved rides at home. In the past five
years, mass-transit ridership has been increasing across the country.
For instance, Amtrak ridership is at a record, and public buses are carrying more passengers.
And voters are approving public transportation projects. Puget Sound voters approved
an expansion of their mass transit with Prop 1 in November. And
California passed a $10 billion measure for high-speed trains to link
its major cities. The state's Web site includes an interactive map that shows trip visualizations.
It also computes how much CO2 can be saved on a trip! On a trip between
Fresno and Los Angeles, for example, the site claims an individual
would spare 191 pounds in carbon emissions.
The other Washington's not missing out, either. "Public infrastructure"
are buzzwords floating around the incoming Obama administration.
They're proposing a jobs program that could kick-start the economy by
modernizing bridges, roads, and trains. And Vice-President Elect Biden
has been promoting magnetic levitation ("maglev") trains.
If
the trend toward mass transportation keeps growing, it will have its
own effect on culture. We'll see more urban clusters and humans living
in vertical structures with work and services within walking distance.
The near future promises to bring Americans to work toward the
collective goal of improving infrastructure. Who knows: Perhaps someday
we'll be connected physically as inexpensively and conveniently as we
are virtually on the Internet?
Write Comment
Email to Friend
Print Article
