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Eric Zhang
Mr. Burchett
Government 3
18 October 2015

Public Transportation: Are We Up-To-Date?

Have you ever thought about taking a train across the country in an emergency? Ever
thought about taking ground public transportation? People often choose planes over ground
public transportation because its faster, and often times they cost as much as a train ticket.
Americans often drive to places instead of using the benefits of public transportations even
though they can provide painless rides, safer environments, and they are also very eco-friendly.
Although public transportation is not getting enough funding, they are not really efficient, as
what public transportations should be. The trains are not fast enough and cost the same price as
air plane tickets, Other public transportations like buses have long wait time and they are also
out-dated. Without enough funding, public transportations are not making progress and profits.
Other countries generally derive more of their revenue from the fare box than the United State
does, with recovery ratios of 50% common in Canada and Europe and up to 100% in parts of
Asia and Australia (MacKechnie). Public transportation is great for the environment and saves
our limited resources, they can provide fast and cheap solutions for people in need, and it is very
beneficial for our governments development.
Public transportation is very Eco-friendly. Taking public transportations such as buses
and subways can reduce the carbon release from each individual car that one is driving. By

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taking public transportation, people can save the environment and also enjoy a painless ride.
Guess where 60 percent of carbon monoxide pollution comes from? Why, motor vehicles of
course (Blatt). Most of our carbon monoxide waste are from cars, with clean energy buses and
electric trains, we can reduce a major source of our carbon emissions. Taking trains for trips can
drastically reduce harmful chemical gas. Trains emit only 25% as many nitrogen oxides per
passenger mile as a single-occupant auto, and nearly 100% less hydrocarbons and carbon
monoxides (State). Because trains can take groups of people, public transportation is far more
efficient than one person per car. Not only that, using public transportation can save the fuel
storage and greatly expand our natural resources. The fuel efficiency of a fully-occupied train
car is 15 times greater than that of the average commuter's single-occupant auto (State). This is
a huge difference for environment saving, it can give us a better living environment because
theres no need for oil mining. If one in 10 Americans used public transportation regularly, the
U.S. reliance on foreign oil could be cut by more than 40%, which translates to the amount of oil
we import from Saudi Arabia each year (American). This can reduce our reliability on foreign
resources and reduce our foreign affairs. Our country can be independent, and self-sufficient.
Taking public transportations is the solution toward a better environment and a stronger country.
With increased funding, there will be more lines and methods of transit system to provide us a
better service.
Trains used to be the main travel method for Americans, a major part of our history was
found by rail roads, towns were built next to rail stations, but less and less people are taking
trains nowadays. mostly because trains right now are not operating in a very high speed, cars can
travel faster than trains, and people with emergency are choosing air travel instead of ground

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travel. Without enough funding, rail roads in United States are losing its importance and going
outdated. While most routes on the network call for operating speeds of 125 mph to 190 mph,
some allow trains to travel at nearly 220 mph (Riley). In many countries, trains are becoming
one of the major travel method, mainly because it provide a faster and easier service, theres less
wait time for air travel, and it can travel much faster than cars. 1,377 miles from Seattle to LA
trip uses 36 hours (Petro). BeijingShanghais 819 miles (1318 km) journey between the two
city to 5 hours (travel) This is has a major difference in time. Convert 1,377 miles to 2,203.2
kilometers, Chinese rail roads are still almost 20 hours faster compared to Amtrak. Tickets are
always expensive for rail roads, sometimes is even more than air plane tickets. with a basic
charge of $362 for a roomette, $781 for a family bedroom and $813 for what is called the
superliner bedroom (Berman). Whereas in China, a ticket cost around 50 dollars. With the right
funding, China drastically increased its train speed to improve the over all service The 1106mile route cuts the journey time down to 6 hours and 51 minutes, instead of the 16 hours it
previously took (RT). Amtrak made minimal progress in 2000 toward achieving operational
self-sufficiency. Although Amtrak is required by law to achieve operational self-sufficiency by
the end of 2002, the outlook is not bright (Scheinberg). Amtrak is not doing so well because
theres not much funding toward the company and not a lot of people are taking trains because
its not very efficient and time saving. Local government and related associations are
complaining and asking for more budget to increase its efficiency and provide better service.
Public transportations are in need for government, because it provide a good economy
return and job openings. Every $1 invested in public transportation generates approximately $4
in economic returns (American). Putting money into public transportation is definitely a great

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bargain for governments, spending money on public transportations does not lose money.
50,000 jobs result from the productivity gains of $1 billion in federal
investment (publictransportation). By creating more jobs in public transportation, theres more
funding from the federal government and states can use it towards other projects. Every $10
million in capital investment in public transportation yields $30 million in increased business
sales (American). Because public transportations have the ability to pose advertisements for
businesses and get more economy return. "The Legislature likewise needs to support transit in
this year's capital and operating budgets," said Epstein, director of the statewide transportation
watchdog group (Bauman). Associations are needing the money to support the public
transportation. Mr. Konop said a sales tax would be a more progressive, fairer way of funding
public transit that also would provide a steadier revenue stream than property levies subject to
periodic renewal or replacement (Patch). States want to replace and upgrade their public
transportation system, but without funding, its going to be a hard time for them to do that.
Some might say that the current transportation system is good enough, or they prefer
driving themselves, there are a lot of benefits that they do not acknowledge. Public transportation
is much safer than cars, and in reality the satisfaction rate is not as well as expectation. Vehicles
with a capacity of 10 passengers or more represented just 0.1% of the total
fatalities (Journalists) The death numbers of highway accidents (in vehicle and nonoccupants) are 32,885, Transit accidents are 215 per year (Chambers). The death rate is only a
fractions of what car can do in an accident, this proves that taking buses or trains is a wiser
choice and a much safer solution. Amtraks Customer satisfaction rate is only 82 (Amtrak).

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Even Amtrak themselves think they need to improve their services for their customers to be
happy. Public transportations need to have more attentions and receive more funding.
Public transportation has a lot of benefits in out society, It is great for environment, it can be
very money and time saving, and it can also create a stronger and more stable government.
Funding public transportation can solve a lot of issues for the state and federal government. It
can give the state and local government a better economy and it can also make the federal
government stronger and independent. Federal government should increase the funding on public
transportation to provide better service and strengthen the country.

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Work Cited
Book Source:
Blatt, Harvey. Americas Environmental Report Card Are We Making The Grade?, The
MIT Press. 2005 Paper.
Web Sources:
MacKechnie, Christopher. The Basics of Transit Funding. Web. about.com
DART First State. The Environmental Benefits of Riding Public Transit Web. delaware.gov
Facts on Public Transportation American Public Transportation Association, Web.
Riley, Charles. China's incredible high-speed rail system CNN money, CNN, Web. January 29
2015
Petro, Pamela. Coast Starlight: Seattle to Los Angeles by train, Telegraph Travel, Telegraph, 13
Jan 2011, Web.
Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Train, Travel China Guide, Web.
Berman, Jay. Travel: Rolling along in style on Amtrak's Coast Starlight train Los Angeles
Daily News. December 12, 2012. Web.
China opens 32 high-speed rail routes in grand expansion 9 Dec, 2014, RT.com
Scheinberg, Phyllis F. Intercity Passenger Rail: Assessing the Benefits of Increased Federal
Funding for Amtrak and High-Speed Passenger Rail Systems: GAO-01-480T. Article.
GAO Reports. 3/21/2001, p1. 14p.
Communities Grow with Transit Web. publictransportation.org
Bauman, Margaret. Public interest group urges funding for public transit. Article. Alaska
Journal of Commerce (Anchorage, AK). 03/30/2008.

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Patch, David. Regionalism called aid to public transit: Better transportation among many
benefits, Konop insists Blade, The (OH). 11/10/2007.
Transportation safety over time: Cars, planes, trains, walking, cycling Web. Journalists
resource, October 5, 2014
Chambers, Matthew. Transportation Safety by the Numbers. Web. U.S. department of
transportation. Web. 2010
Amtrak on-board service improvement plan, Amtrak.com, Web. 2010