Introduction
To those who visit the United States for the first time, it may be surprising to discover how an average American is dependent on a personal car in their everyday living. On the other hand, American tourists traveling, for instance, to Europe, China, Russia, or Japan, may find that daily public transportation usage is at least as important as driving a personal automobile. For this reason, a certain percentage of the general U.S. public has been concerned about developing the public transit system in the country for a long time now.
They argue that the increased availability of subway lines and bus routes would help significantly reduce CO2 emissions and benefit those who cannot afford to have a car. Yet, the supporters of the improved public transportation add, at the current moment, it is evident that the overall system is severely underdeveloped and does not satisfy the existing demand.
However, not all people and government officials agree with the latter claim and maintain that the public transit system is sufficiently established to cover the actual need. They emphasize that the reason why public transport is not as popular as in many other developed or developing countries lies in the prevailing preference among Americans toward driving a personal vehicle. In this regard, the current paper seeks to provide arguments in favor of the former position and explain why those who claim that the U.S. public transportation system is sufficiently developed are wrong.
The Reasons Why the U.S. Public System is Underdeveloped
Firstly, there is low access to public transportation around the country. As such, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 45% of the citizens do not have access to transit (142). In contrast, in Europe, the average level of difficulty in accessing public transportation equals approximately 20.5%, with the worst country not exceeding 31% (International Association of Public Transport et al. 5). As a result, Bok and Kwon argue that it can be challenging for many U.S. citizens to use public transport without a personal car because it is impossible to reach the closest station on foot (235). Therefore, it is clear that the public transport infrastructure in the U.S. is quite underdeveloped.
Secondly, due to insufficient investments, there is a significant number of vehicles that necessitate an overhaul or a complete change. For instance, Anderson found that in 2013 around 40% of the buses and 25% of the trains were in poor condition. Such a condition of public transport does not only deter people from abandoning the usage of personal automobiles but also is negatively related to public safety (American Society of Civil Engineers 146). Thus, to able to attract more passengers, the policymakers should consider investing more money in purchasing new vehicles and repairing the old ones.
Last but not least, there is a lack of thorough planning, which leads to the inefficient operation of the public transit system. One of the issues that Schmitt mentions is that certain cities in the U.S. have bus stations located too close to each other. In New York, the author continues, the average distance between the stops equals 750 feet. As a result, such inadequate location of the stations greatly increases the time that it takes for passengers to reach the destination.
Criticism
Still, as was mentioned above, some people state that the public system in the U.S. is sufficiently developed to cover the existing demand. In this regard, Ercan et al. claim that the country’s citizens have a developed habit of driving personal vehicles instead of using public transportation services (1790). Therefore, the majority of Americans would not consider abandoning their cars even if there were more buses and railroads available. However, it is clear that such an argument is wrong as there are many marketing and PR methods that can help to reshape the existing culture. Yet, those efforts would be futile unless the country had a developed public transportation system. Thus, it can be concluded that public transportation in the U.S. is indeed underdeveloped and necessitates further improvements.
Works Cited
American Society of Civil Engineers. 2021 Infrastructure Report Card. ASCE, 2021.
Anderson, Monica. “Who Relies on Public Transit in the U.S.” Pew Research Center. 2016. Web.
Bok, Jinjoo, and Youngsang Kwon. “Comparable Measures of Accessibility to Public Transport Using the General Transit Feed Specification.” Sustainability, vol. 8, no. 3, 2016, pp. 224-237.
Ercan, Tolga, et al. “Public Transportation Adoption Requires a Paradigm Shift in Urban Development Structure.” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 142, 2017, pp. 1789-1799.
International Association of Public Transport, et al. Urban Mobility Indicators: For Walking and Public Transport, 2019. Web.
Schmitt, Angie. “America’s Bus Stops Are Too Close Together.” Streets Blog USA. 2017. Web.