Transportation policy debates are often characterized as highways vs. transit or automobiles vs. alternatives. But they are more fundamental than that. The real debate is between the engineering view and the planning view.
Engineers ask, “how are people going to get around and how can we make their travel safer and more efficient?” Planners ask, “how should people get around and how can we manipulate them into making what we think are the right choices instead of the wrong choices?”
The problem with the planning view is that it is impossible for central planners to determine what is the “right” choice for everyone. So they simplify the question and focus just on one thing, such as energy or pollution. Then they simplify still further and chant, like the pigs in Animal House, “automobiles bad; transit, walking, and cycling good.” Never mind that automobiles are more energy efficient than most transit or safer than cycling. Continue reading
