One of the thing many drivers don’t seem to realize about mass transit is that it removes traffic from their commutes. That’s not conjecture: our infrastructure sucks so much, there are often major problems, which function as ‘natural experiments.’ Thursday morning, the DC Metro underwent a massive meltdown, as a train slipped off the tracks near the Smithsonian, and effectively shut down the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines. Naturally, people started to use their cars instead, and here’s what happened:
The red lines are where car traffic is awful. At 10 am, one hour after rush hour supposedly ends. Basically, it was impossible to get from Virginia to DC.
Most of our metro areas are so congested, drivers need mass transit as much as those who use do. If only our political betters would realize this.
mikethemadbiologist
If only our political betters would realize this
Was it not your earlier posting that pointed out that none of the transit commission had ever, or hardly ever been seen on a subway car? Most of them probably don’t have much concept of what transit is let alone what it can do for the area.
I am reminded of the ‘famous’ Rob Ford, former mayor of Toronto who was against light rail (and just about anything else but cars). Some pointed out that he almost certainly did not even know what light rail was.