At what price-per-gallon do Americans start to demand mass transit?

[KyuzoGator]

I say it happens around $4.75.

[pstans]

1. They will talk about not taxing gas before then

and the majority of the funding for the current mass transit comes from Gas.

[Selatius]

2. The Europeans did the opposite thing, if you can imagine

Ultimately, it's going to take a lot more than what the current gas tax generates to build a mass transit infrastructure like those seen in Europe and Japan. Now those are examples from which we can learn. I imagine such a system is going to take a level of national commitment that was seen with the construction of the interstate highway system under Eisenhower, and it'll go a long way to pushing people off the asphalt and onto light and heavy rails.

The reason is the Europeans tax gas as a luxury item except for business purposes. The French, for example, have been waging a war on "gas pillage" for the last 30 years, trying to get people to use mass transit and conserve gas.

[pretzel4gore]

3. the public is too poor

the public interest is not rich enogh to afford quick, dependable first class public transit; heck it can barely afford the texas version of public transit (2 nags dragging a log) otoh it can sure afford to buy a pig-in-a-poke war ie iraq, but that's national security!

[Roland99]

4. $6

[AndyTiedye]

5. They're Demanding It Now. Nobody Is Listening.

[mwooldri]

15. And no one is providing it either.

Here we are, we have how many schoolbuses? And how idle are they sitting when not in school? I think we could convert some of these buses to multi-purpose buses - sometimes used for school runs, sometimes used as commuter buses. In the UK, regular transit buses provide transport for school children on special schoolbus routes, and during the rest of the day the vehicles are productive providing a shopping link to the rest of the population.

There's also Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) for rural areas - working like Greensboro's & Guilford County's SCAT program (if you need a bus you call ahead and schedule a ride - it then picks you up close to your home, and then guarantees a return ride at a mutually agreed upon time) but with some components of a fixed route in it too. If DRT was expanded into more semi-urban and semi-rural areas, then it could provide a real alternative & addition to regular transit, especially if coupled with an existing skeleton transit system as in place in Greensboro (sorry, but I view it as a very skeleton network compared to what I am used to). I am not into Transportation, I haven't studied it. I just know how the bus network in my homeland works (especially in the part of the country where I grew up - I know the dangers of publically financed bus operations and the difference between UK and US law when it comes to bankruptcy (when a UK bus operator goes bankrupt, operations tend to cease immediately without notice... US operators enjoy Chapter 11).

I have some great ideas for implementing public transport and improving it in Greensboro for little extra cash. Unfortunately I don't know who to speak to or try to influence to get things moving.

Mark.

[tulsakatz]

6. I live in Tulsa, Ok

And I heard on the national news tonight (I think it was on CNN) they named several cities where people were using mass transit (bus) more and Tulsa was one of the cities!!

That is surprising because this town has never had a good bus system. Even if you want to take the bus, it's usually more trouble than it's worth. The bus doesn't go to all of the locations people might want to go. And if the bus does go there, there's a good chance that you might have to transfer 2 or 3 times to get there..........which means it takes a lot of time!

And even if you can get there, the bus stops running at 7:00 PM so going anywhere at night is out of the question............unless you want to take a cab.

Anyway, I was shocked to hear that bus travel was on the increase here............

Tulsa has always been a place where you need your own car. I would more likely believe that people are car pooling over taking the bus!

[ChazII]

7. Mass transit

does not serve my needs. Hours vary and bus system here is not dependable. Light rail is under construction but not in my area.

[pinto]

8. And, at what price-per-gallon will we pay $4 for a head of lettuce?

That's what it's going to take. Truckers are getting nailed just about now, I assume. They'll have to pass on gas costs to remain in business. Most of what we eat arrives by truck.

[dcfirefighter]

9. Mass transit blows

you have to wait for 1200 people who want to go in your direction and then stop at each stop.

Plus, you either have to pay $5 a trip or you have to subsidize it. (unless you capture the millions in land-wealth transit creates - but start talking about raising taxes on land and liberals and conservatives alike will turn on you). Apparently it's better to tax productive incomes rather than the land you withold from others.

We've developed in a manner that is not conducive to transit: sprawling suburbia. We need density to make transit work.

And for me, a better form of transit would involve smaller trains running more frequently with express routing.

Oh, and all you harry homeowners have to give up on NIMBYism and start letting commercial development in your neighborhoods: offices, light industrial, commercial, even, gasp, bars & restaraunts.

[mike_c]

10. Americans? Give up strapping a ton of metal to themselves individually...

...everytime they want to go to the grocery store? :rofl: When hell freezes over.

True story-- I was cut off by someone pulling out of a slant-in parking space the other day, who drove TO THE END OF THE BLOCK and parked again to do some more shopping.

On edit-- yes, it was a honkin' big SUV thang.

[nonconformist]

17. That's just.... sad.

:banghead:

[Inland]

11. MSNBC had a news segment on increase in ridership, car pooling

and more and more job seekers looking for short commutes. But I can't find it.

Rationally, mass transit is going to requiren reworking entire communities and transit patterns. I guess it's not just gas prices, but time to rezone and rebuild. Give it fifty years.

[Name removed]

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[Inland]

13. I've never car pooled

but all it really requires is coordination and, of course, putting up with other people. Even pools with no talking policies require more social interaction than a single occupancy car. Just saying.

[femmedem]

14. Related: at what price per gallon

do people decide to live within walking distance of where they work?

And at what ppg do people demand mixed-use zoning so this possible?

(I'm not making light of the need for mass transit, though. When I lived in Providence, everyone used buses because you rarely had to wait more than ten minutes for one to come by.)

[cynatnite]

16. A buck ago...

when it was $1.85

[kestrel91316]

18. One of the few things I actually like about our new mayor, Antonio

Villaraigosa, is that he is a MAJOR fan of mass transit, and is pushig for all sorts of expansions of the bus lines, plus espansion of our rapid/subway lines. He knows the little people and soon even the middle class will need our mass transit DESPERATELY.

[951-Riverside]

19. I did it for 16 years, I aint goin' back.

Plus if gas prices go high so will Bus fare.