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What Does It Mean to Provide a Range of
Transportation Choices?

The root of our land-use problem—some call it sprawl—is our over-dependence on the automobile. Cars, of course, are a hallmark of the personal freedom that Americans treasure. Cars are associated with the horizon, and the alluring idea that you can saddle up any time you want and head for the sunset. More than a century after its “closure,” the frontier is still a powerful idea.

Watch this video from TED Talks
where Bill Ford speaks on the topic “A future beyond traffic gridlock”

As with most things in life, the only thing wrong with cars is their excessive use. Since the 1950s, we’ve designed our communities in ways that give us no choice but to drive for every trip. These trips have grown longer and more frequent to the point that, in many busy metropolitan areas, driving has become a kind of tyranny. It’s not only the heavy traffic and the wasted time. It’s that motor vehicles are responsible for one-third of the climate change problem and for most of our dependence on foreign oil. Add to that the emphasis that the new economy places on efficiency—surrounding a single person with a ton of metal, glass and fuel is hardly efficient—and you begin to see the broader picture.

One way to deal with the car problem is to widen the market by offering viable choices. In urban areas, for example, people can rely on transit for many trips. Placing destinations closer together—even within walking distance—is another solution. Biking is another popular alternative in many cities.

What Providing a Range of Transportation Choices Is NOT

• Dependence on a car in everyday life
• Endless traffic jams
• Haphazard transit funding
• Infrequent or unreliable routes
• Solely focused on transit, but includes walking and bicycling
• Unsafe streets or sidewalks for pedestrians and bicyclists
• Investing transit money in extending highways rather than repairs or transit

Benefits of Providing a Range of Transportation Choices

• Gives people the opportunity to opt out of traffic congestion, air pollution and excessive energy consumption
• Builds more sustainable, competitive communities
• Avoids isolating an aging population far from destinations
• Prevents car dependency

Examples

If the Twin Cities transit network continues to expand, many people can arrange their lives in ways that reduces the need to drive.

Challenges to Providing a Range of Transportation Choices

• Lack of funding for transit projects and operations
• Lack of a level playing field in road and transit projects (it’s far easier to fund and approve road projects)
• Acknowledging hidden subsidies embedded in the economy that support driving (foreign policy, state patrols, emergency rooms, insurance, road construction costs funded from general tax revenues, etc.)
• Political rivalries between metro and outstate forces
• State constitutional provisions that favor one kind of transportation funding (roads)

*Surface Transportation Policy Partnership. Aging Americans: Stranded Without Options. 2004. http://www.transact.org/library/reports_html/seniors/aging.pdf