Everyone has heard reports that public transportation is in record use in metropolitan areas, because of rising prices at the pump. Indeed, “The transportation association says people took 2.6 billion trips on public transportation nationwide in the first three months of 2008 — almost 88 million more than last year.” That’s in part why green types like Sen. Obama say they welcome higher gas prices. As it turns out, however, even if public transportation saves Americans a buck or two compared to driving, it’s not at all clear that it translates into a cleaner environment. To understand why this is so, all you have to do is read accounts from people who make 2-hour commutes on public transportation as opposed to 10-minute commutes by car. This is not even a particularly new phenomenon. Whenever I have a quesiton about public transportation, I consult an expert like Rachel DiCarlo Currie who has written extensively on the subject. She notes in one such article, “Most new cars create no more pollution per passenger mile than a bus.” Poorer people are the most likely to abandon their cars due to high gas prices and are the least likely to have fuel-efficient vehicles. But if their new commutes via public transportation are two or three times as many miles because of bus transfers and non-direct routes, it is not far-fetched to think public transportation may be creating greater amount of pollution, not less, than their cars.
