Robert Reich Wonders . . .

Robert Reich wonders why we can't get decent public transportation. First of all, I understand that Reich is a brilliant man (Rhodes Scholar, Yale Law); additionally, during his tenure as Secretary of Labor, he tirelessly championed for the average worker. So in a way, when I read this post, I expected a little bit more...

Problem is, the nation doesn't have nearly enough public transportation to handle the new demand. Even more absurdly, right now when it's needed the most, public transportation across the land is being cut back. . . . A survey of the nation's public transit agencies released last Friday showed 21 percent of rail operators now cutting back and 19 percent of bus operators.

Yes, I understand that $4 gasoline has awakened people (and hopefully policy makers) to the realization that the public transit infrastructure has been sorely lacking. And I realize that states, facing crushing budget deficits and peak oil, are paring back public transportation. But this solution?

If officials need more money to cover the extra fuel costs of public transit, they can raise ticket prices a bit without reducing demand; most of us would still find public transit cheaper than driving our cars.

The reason that most people use public transportation is that they can't afford cars. They don't see $4 gasoline, but instead $3 bread and $5 milk. Many are on the fringes of sustenance and can't absorb the increased fuel costs. But he continues:

But officials shouldn't stop there. They should add services and expand whole systems -- more buses, more trains, more light rail. If they can’t finance this by floating bonds, they should go to Congress and ensure that public transportation is a major part of the next stimulus package.

I've always hated the insistence by opponents of mass transit that the systems be self-supporting. This myopia ignores the positive externalities of mass transit: less demand for oil, less wear on the highways, less pollution, etc. So yes, mass transit is a valuable capital asset. However, where is the money to pay for this? Already, many states and municipalities are in fiscal hell; additionally, credit markets are still a mess. On the record, I believed that the first stimulus package should have financed a New Deal mass transit or renewable energy project. However, a second stimulus package would be disastrous; we simply can't add more debt without cutting some discretionary spending. Government can't be all things to all individuals: mass transit or health care?

The bigger problem with a federally funded local mass transit is that it will favor urban cities over rural and suburban areas, forcing these residents to shoulder the brunt of $4 gas. Federal infrastructural projects on this scale should benefit all classes of residents. [Warning -- Political Commentary Alert] This same burden-shifting myopia was evident during the gas tax brouhaha. Sure, it's implementation for the summer was unlikely, and on average, the amount saved was minuscule. However, rural drivers are not average consumers; not only are these residents further dispersed, many rely on heavy farm equipment that eat fuel. I'm not even going to talk about truckers. So the constant ridicule that the tax holiday would only save 0.28 cents a day simply widened the divide between urban and rural voters, between the working class and the affluent. Ahh, if we could only live within 2 miles of work. [End Political Commentary]

Additionally, this program amounts to a "bailout" of many municipalities that didn't foresee the end of cheap gasoline. During the past decade, local governments were flush with cash from both the housing boom, as well as the tobacco settlements. And the states went on a spending binge on roads, sewers, and schools. I'm sure much of this infrastructure was needed; however, choices were made, and local governments should have to face them, without another bailout on taxpayers. For example, instead of investing in mass transit, South Carolina poured $114M in the Innovista Project that looks like a colossal failure.

This is another Katrina situation, in which government bows to special interests, ignoring a problem affecting mostly lower class citizens until a hurricane ($4 gas) blows up in its face. I remember back in the early 1980's, when we first arrived in America, my father and our neighbor had to walk 45 minutes to the bus stop for an hour bus ride because of the mass transit in Charleston was so lacking. And it's been that way for the past 25 years. And now, there's a public outrage over the quality of mass transit? So yes, Robert Reich, investment in mass transit would "get the economy going, and save energy and the environment [for] years to come." But so would investments in renewable energy, and I'd rather the federal government spend the billions for wind turbines, which can benefit all classes of residents.