Today Is An Ozone Action Day, Take Transit

[wolverine]

What other arguments are there for using transit then wolverine? I wonder what Chicago would be like without the transit it has?

The benefits are mostly spatial. They can increase densities of neighborhoods Transit also offers alternatives for people who wish not to drive or can't afford a car.

It's likely most of Chicago would remain relatively the same overall as it looks without transit. Transit share is pretty low compared to the number people driving throughout the region. The loop would likely be filled with more parking garages, and the Northside would be far less dense to accommodate more single family homes with garages. Basically the argument always come back to density characteristics.

The congestion argument is worthless under a model where a region has relative growth. You can't remove cars from a highway by adding alternatives since people who otherwise left home at a different time, never drove, or have just built a new home on the fringes will fill those vacancies on the road.

Many studies have been done on this. What they have shown is that over past decades, traffic in and out of cities hasn't grown substantially, but the number of office towers has. Therefore it can be said that mass transportation is responsible for a large amount of economic growth in central business districts.

Most transit benefits are a result of trains. Buses are problematic because they share the road with cars, and will contribute to traffic standstills of idling cars, UNLESS they have dedicated lanes or are express buses on streets with light traffic.


While we should be holistic on our approach to cutting emissions, cars, trains, and bus emission shares make up a small fraction of pollution. It's our homes and office buildings that are far worse. You'll do much better for the environment by turning off lights you don't need, running the A/C less, and upgrading appliances. It's my belief that cars will eventually beat out mass transit in bad environmental emissions. I have yet to see a solar train or bus or a system that doesn't require a massive central power plant to run the system. However, cars create a larger urban footprint, inherently bad for the environment, since it allows the population to disperse in all directions instead of centralizing it. Again the density argument

No one should be convinced or forced to use mass transportation, it should be there out of necessity and convenience.