As a native Dutch person who is used to moving around a city either by bike or by tram, it was a quite a shock to come to America. How was I going to get anywhere? I couldn’t just bike, everything was too far away. I love to cycle, a few miles at a time sure, but more than 20 every single day is way more than I have time for. So obviously public transportation is my next course of action. But here’s the issue. You might find a little bit of it on the east-coast, but there is no chance you will find good public transportation on the West Coast (except for the occasional bus that doesn’t take you to the place you really want to go to, but just a 20 minute walk away from it). Crazy thing is, public transportation that is present is used by only 5 percent of the American population. Even though America might claim the country is just too big for trains, it has over 140,000 miles of trail tracks – but they’re mainly used for just freight trains. So let me tell you why it’s so important to make trains and buses available for the average citizen.
1) Let’s start with the environment.
Most people aren’t aware how much damage they do to the Earth by simply driving around. In 2013, the US produced 14.7 trillion pounds of greenhouse gases. This means the US creates the most greenhouse gasses in the world. Sure, you may think just one person won’t make a difference, but that’s the problem. If everybody thinks that way, nothing will ever change. Roads are filled with people either trying to get to work, the beach, the restaurant, etc. And everybody gets stuck in traffic jams. Having your car run for way longer than necessary (and moving 5 feet per minute) is intensely bad for global warming. Everybody should realize this right now and use their cars way less. Yeah okay, we’ve got electric cars, but as long as you don’t have one of those there’s no excuse for taking the car when the distance is something you can either walk, bike, or take the bus.
2)Traffic
Oh, and about those pesky traffic jams? Besides the fact that they’re extremely boring, they also make it impossible to give anybody a correct ETA. What if, instead of taking your car, you take the train? You would always be on time. No need to be the one who’s always late to work or interviews because of traffic. Being on time is way better than arriving in a big, expensive car any way.
3) But what about the economy?
For all the people who thinks the economy is more important than the environment, a good economy needs a good infrastructure. If manufactures need raw material to start producing, there has to be a way to get this to them in the fastest and best possible way in a way that maximizes profit. Well, they could get it by car, but they’re now stuck in a traffic jam. A freight train will only take the materials so far. Look how slowly everything’s going compared to how it might be.
4) Safety
But, most importantly taking the train will reduce the number of car accidents. It might not what you’re thinking about when you get into a car, you’re probably just thinking about meeting up with your friends, or getting to work or school on time but it is a real risk. The average person’s odds of being in a car crash is 1 in 470 in your lifetime. That number goes way up in urban areas. Even when taking the bus you are 60 times safer than driving your own car. In comparison, the odds of you winning the lottery is 1 to 13,983,816 and you might be thinking about that every day.
So far, I’ve been blessed and spoiled by my home country with either the possibility of biking or the ability to take the tram. It’s time for the entire West Coast to realize that public transportation is the way to go. The entire United States needs to see the importance of public transportation. Right now the Netherlands are on a program to lowly switch to 100% emission free buses, ideally with every bus replaced by 2035. America isn’t even at the point of having a good bus system.
Just be more conscientious of the environment. Take bike instead of drive if you’re able. And if you absolutely have to drive—yes sometimes your destination just isn’t in biking distance—try carpooling.
