Mass Transportation

Blue Team: Robert Wyman, Jessica Bryan, Courtney Flowers, Zach Tigert, Emily Casey, Moriah Balingit

The History of Mass

Transportation

Pre-20th Century

•1662 The first "bus"  

•1825 First locomotive

•1863 First subway opens

•1869 First transcontinental railroad completed

•1886 First citywide electric trolley system

20th Century

• 1900 95% of people travel by train. 90% of freight was shipped by train.

• Large-scale mass transit starts with industrialization in early 20th Century.

• Use of mass transit rose from 6 billion annual passengers in 1900 to over 17 billion in 1927.

• Mass Transit in the States reached its peak in 1946 at 23 billion riders

• 1954 54% of freight shipped by train in the United States • 1961 Provided first federal assistance for mass transit. • 1964 90% of people in the U.S. travel by private

automobile.  • 1972 Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system dedicated

as the first "high tech" system. • 1974  National Mass Transportation Assistance Act

passed• 1990 Rail trolley systems had achieved substantial

resurgence in the U.S.

Histogram!

•Source: “Making Transit Work: Insight from Western Europe, Canada, and the U.S.” Transportation Research Board,

Special Report 257, 2001

American vs. European Mass

Transportation: An Assessment

U.S. vs. Europe (ding ding)

• 10 to 20% urban trips transit in Europe, compared to 2% in US

• 38% of work trips made on transit in Europe compared to 9.0% in the US.

• 18.4% workers who walk or bicycle compared to 4.9% in the US

• Boston 55 bicycles per hour, Paris 74, Amsterdam 242.

Modes of Travel, by Country

•Source: “Making Transit Work: Insight from Western Europe, Canada, and the U.S.” Transportation Research Board,

Special Report 257, 2001

Transit Ridership in the 10 Most Urbanized U.S. Areas

Data Analysis

• Analyzing the data in this table, we find that there are 8.16 billion mass transit riders per year in the U.S.

• U.S. population= 295,734,134 (July 2005)

• Yearly riders/population amounts to approximately 28 rides per U.S. citizen per year

U.S. Statistics

• Buses 60% mass transit in the US

• Metropolitan Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York 65% of transit use, only 20% of urban population

U.S. and Germany•According to the German Department of Transportation (Bundesministerium fuer Verkehr, Bau, und Stadtentwicklung), 27 million Germans use mass transportation everyday•This computes out to 9.86 Billion riders per year•Germany's population= 82,431,390 (July 2005) •Yearly riders/population is approximately 120 rides per German citizen/yr.•Conclusion: Germans use public transportation about 4 times as often as Americans

Funding• Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands

and Belgium, subsidies for public transportation are high, fares range between 15 to 40 percent of operating costs.

• In the U.S., fares range between 30 and 70 percent of operating costs.

• This means that European cities support transit at about double the level in the U.S.

• European governments likewise have greater authority to impose gasoline taxes, and, increasingly, to apply road tolls to motorists.

• The cost of gasoline in Europe is about four times what it is in the U.S.

Continued Development

• New York, a transit-centered city (one of the biggest in world) not added significant subway line since prior to World War II

• Many European cities – such as Paris, London, Munich and Stockholm -- have continually expanded their subway systems.

• Paris one of the most advanced metro in the world, rubber wheels 48mph, connecting to high-speed commuter, light rail. (Japan)

Benefits of Public Transit• For every passenger mile traveled, public

transportation uses 1/2 fuel of private automobiles, sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and light trucks

• For every passenger mile traveled, public transportation produces only 5 percent as much carbon monoxide, less than 8 percent as many volatile organic compounds, & nearly 1/2 as much carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

• The reduced VOC and NOx emissions that result from public transportation use save between $130 million and $200 million a year in regulatory costs.

Vision for the Future

The Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area

Facts about the PVMA• The PVMA’s boundaries were determined by the U.S.

Office of Budget and Management and it has been defined as a primary metropolitan statistical area (PMSA)

• It encompasses…– Two states (Oregon and Washington)– Six counties (Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah,

Yamhill, Washington and Clark, WA)– 1.9 million people (2000 estimate)– Total labor force: 1 million (2000 estimate)– The band “Shitfuck Arkansaw and the Assface

Superstars”

Source: Portland State Institute of Metropolitan Studies, U.S. Census Bureau

A Crappy Map of the PVMA

Our Transportation Solutions…

Commuter Trains•“Park and Ride” stations could service individual suburbs (covered with PV cells)•Trains would go directly to downtown Portland with few intermediate stops (one per major city)•Use existing freeway infrastructure

How do we get P-towners out of

their Escalades?

“Pimp My Commuter Train”

•Outfit trains with Wi-Fi internet •Comfortable, clean interiors•Consider creating a “First Class” section•Higher-end food vendors on board•Consult Xzibit for decorating tips

Other Technology…•Hitachi commuter rail technology features a light aluminum shell that can be recycled•Hydrogen-based fuel cell systems for railway technology being developed by Hydrail

Mass Transit and the Proletariat

What? LA has a Subway?!?!•Those who are not dependent on mass transit due to economic status, disability or age require more persuasion before becoming riders. Transportation experts have estimated that the average commute in a car is 30 mph in urban areas while light rail is 15 mph. Perhaps this is a limiting factor in the minds of many Americans.

•Sources: Litman, Todd. “Transit Price Elasticities and Cross-Elasticities.” Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

Playing Devil’s Advocate• While the car creates noise and pollution,

it has also created opportunities which mass transportation cannot provide to the average worker:– Greater mobility and personal freedom. It has

lessened the quality of life gap between the rich and the poor. Destinations far from the city center are accessible to more people.

– Increased the scope of job possibilities to those not located near a transit stop. Night shifts and overtime become options. (Only 22% of workers have jobs within 3 miles of the city center on average.

– Makes errands, caring for children and medical emergencies much easier to deal with.

– Source: Dicarlo, Rachel. “The Fallacies of Anti-Car Activists.” News Corporation, Weekly Standard. 2005.

Hmmm…

…Perhaps more park-and-ride stations will be welcomed by greater numbers of workers in the coming years. There is less compromise to personal freedom and the environment.

And Life Goes On…