介绍:
Nevertheless, we drive. Only 5 percent of commuters take mass transit to work — and the number has been dropping. While the use of cars has increased more than 85 percent since 1970, the use of mass transit — buses, subways, trolleys, commuter trains — has dropped by 3 percent.
It is not that Americans wouldn’t listen to their experts, but it is reasonable to prefer private cars to public trains and buses. Cars and highways are available 24 hours a day. They go almost everywhere. They sharply reduce travel time — in America, the average mass transit commute takes 42 minutes while the average commuter driving to work makes it in only 20. And without question, cars and highways are safer: death rates are much lower for cars and highways — especially interstate highways — than for most forms of mass transit.
It isn’t a “love affair” with cars that keeps Americans behind the wheel. It is the freedom, flexibility, and efficiency that automobiles provide. Nor is this an American phenomenon. Anywhere people have the choice, they choose to drive. In Europe, automobile use has risen steadily for decades. Since 1989, in what was East Germany, the number of people using mass transit has been reduced by 50 percent; the number using cars now equals that in the former West Germany.
People who dislike cars need to face the reality: Americans would rather drive. Subways and commuter trains, no matter how much is spent on them, will account for only a small proportion of commuter trips. We have far more mass transit than we need, but not nearly enough highway lanes. So it is high time to start spending the money where it is most needed.
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