OPINION: The U.S. needs better public transportation 

In 2019, 75.9% of U.S. citizens drove to work alone according to the America Community survey. This shouldn’t shock anyone living in the U.S. Driving yourself to work is very much so commonplace, but I don’t think it should be.  

Many other countries have phenomenal public transit systems. These systems consist of a train or bus system. This allows people to not have to own a car to get around. This saves people money, and it is better for the environment. 

Japan is a great example of this. Japan has a sprawling train system that can get you anywhere you need to go in any given city in a timely manner. There is no reason we shouldn’t have systems like this. 

To start I want to look at why the U.S. has a terrible public transportation system. The main reason is how cities were designed. A lot of U.S. cities and especially suburbs were designed with cars in mind.  

Chicago is a great example of this poor design. Chicago is right on Lake Michigan. The city then spreads out west and becomes more suburban areas the further you go out. Chicago’s main train center is in the center of the city, which is not the center of the Chicago metropolitan area. This means anyone who lives in a suburb, but works in another suburb, which is most people, has to travel into the city just to get on another train to travel to another suburb. 

Chicago also has a bussing system, but there just isn’t a reliable bus route once you get to the suburbs. There are a lot of areas where buses just don’t go. 

In the U.S., transit systems were created to bring people from outside the city in, which, in theory, would be good, but it just doesn’t keep up with people’s working habits. Like I said before, the most common commute in the U.S. is from one suburb to another. This just isn’t being met by the current transit system most cities have.  

This means people are driving their own cars to work because they have to. This is taking a toll on our environment. Cars and trucks cause roughly 20% of all U.S. emissions. With a better public transit system, less cars would be on the road, meaning there would be less emissions. We saw this in 2020, carbon emissions fell drastically due to people not driving as much. So, if we were to create a public transit system, there could be a similar fall in emissions.  

Another major reason is pricing. Cars are expensive. In 2020, transportation was the second highest expenditure for U.S. consumers. There are a good number of people who aren’t able to afford a car, but still need to get around. This means they have to spend hours waiting for a convoluted public transit system to get them where they need to go. 

Gas is also expensive. Right now, gas prices are astronomically high. It’s rare to see gas going for less than $4 a gallon. This means a lot of people are struggling to keep up with gas prices. If we had a public transit system, this kind of thing wouldn’t be as much of an issue.  

Public transit isn’t without its fault, however. I come from a relatively small town in northern Idaho, and it was a big deal that we got a few buses a few years back. The issue is that a lot of people live outside of town and the buses can’t run out there. In a lot of rural areas there isn’t the infrastructure set up to house public transportation. There are some areas where public transportation just wouldn’t work. 

Public transportation is an important part of moving forward as a country. It would help everyone. Less cars on the road mean less traffic for those who do drive. It would also help lower carbon emissions, which is better for everyone. It has to be an integral part of moving forward as a country. 

Mark Warren can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @MarkWarren1832