Regional Materials and
Information
Cincinnati
Be Sure You Have the Full Story on Transit!
Last year, outside opponents to public transportation in Cincinnati
worked to defeat Issue 7 (the half-cent sales tax proposal that
would have funded the historic MetroMoves transportation plan).
Well, they're back under the guise of a conference titled "Preserving
the American Dream of Mobility and Homeownership", which will
happen Monday, November 17, 2003 at the Montgomery Inn Conference
Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
These resources are intended to help reporters in the region with
the full story on transit -- we hope you'll be sure to listen to
BOTH sides!
Overview of CFTE
Overview of Public Transportation (from www.publictransportation.org)
Cincinnati Specific Resources
Smart
Growth America Response to Conference (PDF)
CFTE Overview
Click here for
a PDF Version of this Overview
Who We Are
The mission for The Center For Transportation Excellence
is to defend the merits of public transportation. Public transportation
and light rail is an important and necessary component of Cincinnati's
menu of transportation options to relieve congestion. We work with
other organizations in Cincinnati that are interested in reducing
traffic congestion and improving quality of life.
Who Are the Anti-Transit Critics
Critics of transit and light rail tend to fall into 3 categories:
Libertarians, opponents of tax increases, and supporters of road
and car based transportation systems. Their arguments tend to center
around fears of restricting freedom of movement, concerns about
the investment of taxpayer dollars, and economic incentives in road
building. Some of the big names at this conference are Wendell Cox,
Bob Poole, and Randal O'Toole.
There are Two Sides to Every Story
The group that will be flown in to this conference will make many
seemingly convincing arguments that discredit public transportation.
Unfortunately, these statements are often oversimplified and the
statistics they use are sometimes skewed to fit their message. We
have attached a list of arguments you might hear along with a point-by-point
refutation.
Our Goal
When and if it comes time for you to comment on this conference
and these transit critics, we would hope that you utilize the list
of resources that we have provided to get a balanced perspective
on the arguments. We believe that if residents of Cincinnati see
both sides of the issue, they will ultimately opt for funding better
public transportation in their community.
Public Transportation
Overview
What is Public Transportation?
Public transportation includes all vehicle services designed to
transport customers on local and regional routes. These services
include: private and public buses; trolleybuses; vanpools; jitneys'
demand response services; heavy and light rail; commuter rail; automated
guideway transit; included plane; cable cars; monorails; and ferryboats.
What Are Some of the Many Benefits of Public Transportation?
- Public transportation provides personal mobility and freedom.
- You do not have to ride public transportation to benefit from
it.
- Every dollar invested in public transportation provides $6
in economic returns.
- Every $1 billion invested in public transportation infrastructure
supports approximately $47,500 jobs.
- Public transportation is an immediate means of helping our
environment and conserving energy. If one in ten Americans used
public transportation regularly, the U.S. reliance on foreign
oil could be cut by more than 40 percent-the amount we import
from Saudi Arabia each year.
- Public transportation helps relieve traffic congestion, reducing
hours of delay in major travel corridors.
Who Uses Public Transportation?
- Public transportation riders are diverse: People age 65 or older
represent 7 percent of riders; 18 years and younger 10 percent;
women 52 percent; White, 45 percent; African-Americans, 31 percent;
Hispanic, 18 percent and Asian and Native Americans, 6 percent.
- In 2001, Americans took 9.5 billion trips using public transportation,
an increase of 1.9 percent from the previous year -- the equivalent
of more than a million new trips each day.
- Since 1995, public transportation has risen 21percent -- faster
than vehicle miles traveled on our roadways and airline passenger
miles logged over the same period.
- An estimated 14 million Americans ride public transportation
each weekday and an additional 25 million use it on a less frequent
but regular basis.
How Many Public Transportation Providers Are There?
- There are approximately 6,000 public transportation systems
operating in the United States and Canada, with the majority of
these agencies operating more than one type of service.
- Many agencies typically contract additional services with private
operators, further increasing the number of total public transportation
providers.
How Large is the Public Transportation Industry?
- In 2000, America's public transportation systems employed 350,000
workers to operate, maintain and manage all modes of transit.
- A full 50 percent of this workforce serve as operators or conductors.
- In addition, 10,000-20,000 professionals work under contract
to public transportation systems or are employed by companies
and government offices that support these systems.
- The public transportation fleet is comprised of 129,000 vehicles
in active services with the majority (58 percent) being buses.
Materials
- Listing of Pro-transit
organizations in Cincinnati and Nationally (PDF)
- Listing of anti-transit
organizations (PDF)
- Common Arguments of Transit Dectractors
- Facts on Cincinnati Transportation
Issues (PDF)
- The 2003 Annual Urban
Mobility Report (September 30, 2003)
Released on the day that TEA-21 expired, this report from the
Texas Transportation Institute, has traditionally measured the
cost of congestion in dollars and time wasted. This year, for
the first time, the report measures the time and money saved by
drivers due to public transportation investment, ITS technologies,
and other congestion management strategies.
- The
"New Clothes" of the Libertarian Critics of Light Rail
Transit: Lessons from Cincinnati, Economist's analysis of
Cincinnati's 2002 light rail proposal, Haynes Goddard, University
of Cincinnati
- Transportation Costs and the American
Dream: Why a Lack of Transportation Choices Strains the Family
Budget and Hinders Homeownership (PDF File)
A new report by the Surface Transportation Policy Project shows
that transportation costs are taking an even bigger bite out of
the family pocketbook, with America’s families now spending
more than 19 cents out of every dollar earned on transportation,
an expense second only to housing and greater than food and health
care combined..
Back to Top
|
