Living Like Ed - (Page 64) So the city’s transportation system is like a big-city hospital. Most of the work is done with sutures and tongue depressors and thermometers, the basic tools. The bus system is part of that basic infrastructure. But you still need a big MRI unit, too! And that’s the subway or the lightrail system. It’s another important tool in the transportation tool box. We still need to get people off the roads entirely, not just create more bus lanes. According to the APTA, throughout the United States as a whole: • There are more than 6,400 providers of public and community 1995 through 2006, public transportation ridership increased 30 transportation. • From percent, while the U.S. population increased only 12 percent. During the same period, use of U.S. highways increased only 24 percent—less than the growth rate for public transportation. That’s good news. Ed • In 2006, Americans took 10.1 billion trips on public transportation, the highest ridership level in forty-nine years. 64 living like Using public transportation is certainly a good way to save money, too. Augmenting your driving with public transportation could even eliminate your family’s need for an additional car, and that’s a way to save real money. Public transportation is also a great way to save fuel. According to the APTA: • Public transportation use in the United States saves 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline each year, or nearly 4 million gallons of gasoline per day. • That eliminates the need for thirty-four supertankers of oil to make their way to the United States each year. • It also eliminates 140,769 local fuel deliveries, those big tanker trucks that clog our streets on their way to local gas stations, not to mention the wear and tear they exact on our roads. Public transportation also reduces traffic congestion, which reduces travel time for everyone on the road. In 2003, according to the APTA, public transportation in America’s most congested cities saved travelers 1.1 billion hours in travel time. Public transportation usage saves the equivalent of 300,000 automobile fill-ups every single day. You
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