American society's overwhelming commitment to private automobile transportation is at the heart of the current mass transit crisis. The automobile/highway system is heavily subsidized, both directly and indirectly, by motorist and non-motorist alike, while public transportation has been expected to pay its own way. Given this gross imbalance in transportation policy, the mass transit situation has steadily worsened. Ridership has declined while fares have risen and services have been cut to reduce deficits, causing still greater drop in ridership. Low income, inner-city people have been hit hardest by the transit crisis, since a majority of them have no access to an automobile and must pay the high fares and accept the declining levels of service or be immobilized. And at the same time, they contribute to the support of automobiles and highways and suffer the many social costs of that system. The fairest and most effective way out of this predicament would be to transfer some of the subsidies we now give the automobile system to mass transit and use this extra revenue to lower fares and improve service, therby helping the urban poor and attracting riders away from socially and environmentally costly automobiles. Several ways of accomplishing this in Detroit are suggested.


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    Title :

    Urban Transportation and the Detroit Bus System: A Look at Some Basic Equity and Priority Issues with Recommendations for Change


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    1972


    Size :

    83 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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