Today Is An Ozone Action Day, Take Transit

**Novine** · September-07-11, 10:08 AM

" As crazy as it sounds, you need to think about how much energy it takes to move 1 train and power all the lights and equipment in the stations, ventilate tunnels, and operate signals."

Are you familiar with what's involved in supporting a network of roads? Traffic signals, street lights, signage, the guys going out patching and plowing the roads, the cost to widen or rebuild a road and on and on. There are huge fixed and ongoing costs, both in dollars and energy, to maintain a road network just as there is to maintain a subway system.

**wolverine** · September-07-11, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by Novine

" As crazy as it sounds, you need to think about how much energy it takes to move 1 train and power all the lights and equipment in the stations, ventilate tunnels, and operate signals."

Are you familiar with what's involved in supporting a network of roads? Traffic signals, street lights, signage, the guys going out patching and plowing the roads, the cost to widen or rebuild a road and on and on. There are huge fixed and ongoing costs, both in dollars and energy, to maintain a road network just as there is to maintain a subway system.

But there are far more cars on the road, so the energy usage of traffic signals per car that passes by is low. You also have to consider that roads have existed since the beginning of civilization and would still exist if the car wasn't around. You'd have to determine the embodied energy of creating the road network + the amount of energy to maintain with and without cars. Would there still be streetlights? More or less? Snow plowing and street sweeping?

Point is, the argument starts to get very abstract and we could go on and on considering all the contributing factors that affect mobility. It's better to work with things we know. Ridership numbers, building density characteristics, and economic growth to determine the benefits of transit. The environmental debate is endless and both sides have their points. I bike and walk to work and everywhere I go, so I'm unbiased by the whole debate.