No one expects transit agencies to work very hard to provide safe, efficient services taking people where they need to go. But sometimes urban residents need a reminder that it is their job to rearrange their lives and risk their health and safety to insure that transit has enough riders to justify the huge subsidies it receives.

At least, that’s the opinion of Chicago Sun-Time columnist Laura Washington, who urges Chicago residents to “get on the L or bus. Or both.” After all, she reasons, “If riders don’t return to the CTA [Chicago Transit Authority], Metra [commuter trains] and Pace [suburban buses], look for layoffs, service cuts and hefty fare hikes.” Her view is enthusiastically endorsed by Streetsblog Chicago.

The latest data — compiled several days after Washington wrote her article telling people they had to risk getting COVID in order to save transit — indicate that less than 20 percent of Illinois residents and less than 18 percent of Cook County (Chicago) residents have been fully vaccinated. But apparently that’s no reason to hesitate taking transit. Continue reading →

The state of California has fined the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) $16,200 for health and safety violations that may have led to the death of a bus driver, Audrey Lopez, from coronavirus last October. The state claims VTA failed to “require or ensure the use of face coverings at all times by employees at the facility and while operating the buses.” It also didn’t provide effective training instruction to employees on how to prevent the spread of the virus.

Naturally, VTA claims that Lopez didn’t catch the virus while on the job. But union president John Courtney says that Lopez had not been anywhere where she would have been exposed to the virus, other than work, in the days before she called in sick.

The transit industry insists that transit is safe to ride during the pandemic. However, the Centers for Disease Control says that air filtration systems must have a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) rating of 13 to filter out the virus. The filters used in VTA buses are rated 4, good enough to filter out pollen but not good enough to stop the virus. Continue reading →

Democrats want to build more transit infrastructure in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The only problem is that transit emits as much or more greenhouse gases, per passenger mile, as the average car. In fact, transit is less climate friendly than driving in all but a handful of cities.

Now, a new report from the Transit Cooperative Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences attempts to quantify how much greenhouse gas emissions transit can save. Using data from the American Public Transportation Association, the report observes that each passenger mile carried by transit represents a reduction of just 0.329 vehicle miles of automobile travel (page 14). Apparently, about 60 percent of those transit trips would, in the absence of transit, otherwise be walking or cycling trips or would not take place at all.

That means that transit is a huge net generator of greenhouse gases. In 2018, the average car emitted 202 grams of carbon dioxide per passenger mile. In 2019, transit did better than that only in the New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Portland urban areas. The average light truck emitted about 241 grams; transit did better than that only in the above urban areas plus Atlanta, Boston, and San Jose. Continue reading →