How long will it take until we expand our public transportation? I say $5 gallons of gas will start getting people to want to invest in laying more train lines down.
There are already pretty big improvements in public transportation across much of the country. States and cities are investing in public transport like never before. As an example from a city I know well, the Twin Cities are seeing a huge jump in public transport use with these high gas prices and park and ride as well as express bus services are skyrocketing in use.
Light Rail Transit and commuter rail is also seeing a boost with the first LRT line blowing expectations out of the water with ridership. Already a new line has been approved to connect downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul via the University of Minnesota and federal funding has been allocated for the North Star rail commuter line.
Other options being seriously discussed are several more LRT lines, street cars in downtown Minneapolis, and two high speed rail lines (to 125mph) between Duluth and Rochester, MN.
On top of this, the Midwest High Speed Rail initiative has seen major investments in track improvements between Chicago and Minneapolis so that trains can run at 125mph several times a day, making the trip from Minneapolis to Chicago a relatively short 5.5 hours compared to 8 by car and 3 by air once you factor in travel to and from the airports, security, check in, and the actual flight (of 1 hour).. and the train would be loads cheaper.
Public transportation is exploding in this country under the radar because the federal government has not looked at the issue at all. Instead, the Bush administration has proposed major cuts to Amtrak just when ridership is reaching record levels and has delayed improvements that would really make the service more dependable.
