Today's feature is a short and sweet 30-second plea for the improvement of public transportation. It quickly illustrates how public transportation is used by 35 million Americans every day but eighty-four percent of transit systems have raised rates or cut services.

The facts remain: Washington’s transportation is the number one polluter in the state, responsible for emitting a whopping 45% of our global warming pollution. We can reduce our oil dependency and air pollution by increasing transit and building great places to live where jobs and homes are nearer to each other.

Transportation is also the second biggest cost for a household. The NRDC blog cites the American Public Transportation Association’s November Transit Savings Report, which says "individuals who switch from driving to riding public transportation can save, on average, almost $10,000 annually. These savings are based on the cost of commuting by public transportation compared to the November 18, 2011 average national gas price ($3.38 per gallon- reported by AAA) and the national unreserved monthly parking rate."

But many of these transit service reductions are leaving us stranded.

Check this map from Transportation For America. It's called "Stranded At The Station: Mapping The Transit Funding Crisis."

 

From Transportation4America: “As employers and commuters everywhere know only too well, public transportation is an essential service that is critical to our economy,” said James Corless, director of Transportation for America. Noting that Congress had acted recently to provide an emergency infusion of general fund dollars into the highway trust fund, he added, “We need to see the same sense of urgency for the rest of the transportation system. But more than that, we need a long-term, sustainable source of funding for building, operating and maintaining the entire network.”

Existing federal policy is out of date and out of touch with the reality of public transportation’s growing importance to Americans and their communities. Only 18 cents of every transportation dollar supports public transportation and to make that situation worse, communities are required to supply a much larger matching amount compared to federally-supported highways.

Go HERE for more information on the impacts of cutting back public transportation at a time when Americans are riding transit in record numbers.

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