Two Problems With The Mass Transit Plan

There are two big problems with mass transit, writes WSJ columnist P.J. O'Rourke: Nobody uses it, and it's far too expensive.

1 minute read

March 17, 2005, 7:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"The new transportation bill, currently working its way through Congress, will provide more than $52 billion for mass transit.

There are just two problems with mass transit. Nobody uses it, and it costs like hell. Only 4% of Americans take public transportation to work. Even in cities they don't do it. Less than 25% of commuters in the New York metropolitan area use public transportation. Elsewhere it's far less--9.5% in San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, 1.8% in Dallas-Fort Worth. As for total travel in urban parts of America--all the comings and goings for work, school, shopping, etc.--1.7 % of those trips are made on mass transit."

Thanks to Laura Kranz

FULL STORY: Mass Transit Hysteria

Wednesday, March 16, 2005 in Wall St. Journal

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