Praising transit and dissing sprawl: it must be Wednesday
NPR has a nice graphic on commuting patterns in US cities. The image above shows the rate of mass-transit commuting, with the larger circles representing larger numbers of riders. It’s nice to see that Atlanta is the leader in the deep south region when it comes to commuting by mass transit.
I’d like to see a graphic like this that shows commuters who walk or cycle to work. Let me know if you’ve seen one.
One reason I’m posting this is that, in the wake of the TSPLOST failure, I’m staying positive by appreciating the transit we have rather than mourning the new transit we aren’t going to get (at least not any time soon). And I’m also mindful of the silver lining I always saw in the failure of the proposed tax: traffic-frazzled commuters will have an extra impetus to stop embracing car-dependent sprawl.
Speaking of, there’s a cool article today from a former Mayor of Ventura explaining the cost of inefficient sprawl on cities. Here’s a quote:
When sprawling new development happens, it’s easy to mistake that for prosperity. New buildings and wide roads look great when they first meet the eye. But over time, distant development costs more, gradually bleeding taxpayers and putting the hurt on municipal budgets.
I’d like to see the Tea Party hop on that fiscal burden.
