Sustainability/Energy Column: Public Transportation - Why it sucks, and how to fix it
Christina Ingersoll MBA '10
Issue date: 4/14/09 Section: Opinion
After standing at the bus stop for a full 10 minutes at 7AM in sleet, I found myself increasingly jealous of all the singleton drivers whizzing by me in their polluting vehicles. I was not jealous of the one crazy guy on his bike, trying frantically to blink off the frozen rain from his eyelashes. At least I was about to be in a warm bus.
My commute is fairly eco-friendly: rather than driving a carbon-emitting car from my apartment in Belmont, MA (don't worry if you don't know where that is), I walk to catch a bus to catch the red line to get to MIT Sloan on a daily basis. Rain, wind, sleet, snow, late buses: it sucks.
I do have a car, and I drive it on weekends and occasional evenings. It's a terrific car, a little silver diesel stick-shift VW golf with a great sound system and a real-world 50 mpg. I love getting in my car: my drivers' seat is the most comfortable chair that I own, listening to music in my choice of 5 formats. I love the freedom of driving wherever, parking and returning to find my stuff where I left it, knowing that I have a whole stash of reusable shopping bags, a leatherman, and jumper cables, and an extra umbrella in my trunk if I need them. I love how much the hatchback holds, and how easy it is to cart off my 20 pound bags of potting soil, or 12 cartons of soy milk.
But, according to www.publictransportation.org, a single person, commuting alone by car, who switches a 20-mile round trip commute to existing public transportation, can reduce his or her annual CO2 emissions by 4,800 pounds per year, equal to a 10% reduction in all greenhouse gases produced by a typical two-adult, two-car household. By eliminating one car and taking public transportation instead of driving, a person can realize savings of up to 30% of carbon dioxide emissions.
Well, on week days that's me! Great, I feel 4,800 pounds lighter already… whee!
No, I don't actually. I feel cold standing in the snow waiting for the bus. I then feel overheated and annoyed sitting next to large people and their sloshing coffee cups wedged into little bus seats. I feel disgusted at stepping in mud and over stagnant puddles in our leaky, slimy t-station. I feel guilty walking by the beggars in the subway, and on occasion, I feel humiliated walking in late to a class unable to explain that the T just stopped in the middle of the tunnel and we were all stopped in the dark, only to be told repeatedly "we will be moving momentarily".
Now this is the sustainability column, so why am I ragging on the very system that can save us 4,800 pounds of CO2 annually each? Because these are my pain points, and what I am asked to give up to "go green". I bet I'm not alone and I don't want to hear another round of "if we could just get people to ditch their cars…it's easy!" No - that's not going to happen, and I don't think it should. So make cars more efficient, make the subway system cleaner and more reliable. Design a personal windshield wiper for bicyclists. And if we all end up going to Zipcar, how about at least equipping them with some reusable shopping bags?
My commute is fairly eco-friendly: rather than driving a carbon-emitting car from my apartment in Belmont, MA (don't worry if you don't know where that is), I walk to catch a bus to catch the red line to get to MIT Sloan on a daily basis. Rain, wind, sleet, snow, late buses: it sucks.
I do have a car, and I drive it on weekends and occasional evenings. It's a terrific car, a little silver diesel stick-shift VW golf with a great sound system and a real-world 50 mpg. I love getting in my car: my drivers' seat is the most comfortable chair that I own, listening to music in my choice of 5 formats. I love the freedom of driving wherever, parking and returning to find my stuff where I left it, knowing that I have a whole stash of reusable shopping bags, a leatherman, and jumper cables, and an extra umbrella in my trunk if I need them. I love how much the hatchback holds, and how easy it is to cart off my 20 pound bags of potting soil, or 12 cartons of soy milk.
But, according to www.publictransportation.org, a single person, commuting alone by car, who switches a 20-mile round trip commute to existing public transportation, can reduce his or her annual CO2 emissions by 4,800 pounds per year, equal to a 10% reduction in all greenhouse gases produced by a typical two-adult, two-car household. By eliminating one car and taking public transportation instead of driving, a person can realize savings of up to 30% of carbon dioxide emissions.
Well, on week days that's me! Great, I feel 4,800 pounds lighter already… whee!
No, I don't actually. I feel cold standing in the snow waiting for the bus. I then feel overheated and annoyed sitting next to large people and their sloshing coffee cups wedged into little bus seats. I feel disgusted at stepping in mud and over stagnant puddles in our leaky, slimy t-station. I feel guilty walking by the beggars in the subway, and on occasion, I feel humiliated walking in late to a class unable to explain that the T just stopped in the middle of the tunnel and we were all stopped in the dark, only to be told repeatedly "we will be moving momentarily".
Now this is the sustainability column, so why am I ragging on the very system that can save us 4,800 pounds of CO2 annually each? Because these are my pain points, and what I am asked to give up to "go green". I bet I'm not alone and I don't want to hear another round of "if we could just get people to ditch their cars…it's easy!" No - that's not going to happen, and I don't think it should. So make cars more efficient, make the subway system cleaner and more reliable. Design a personal windshield wiper for bicyclists. And if we all end up going to Zipcar, how about at least equipping them with some reusable shopping bags?
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