Mark Anderson writes:
The comment made by David Strom was not a conclusion but merely a comment. He noted that traffic didn't seem to be affected at all by the bus strike, which contradicts many of the comments made by mass transit advocates. I agree that his comment was premature. It also takes into account only the affects on traffic of mass transit, not the suffering that occurs by those that normally take the bus. Nevertheless it is a valid issue to talk about. One constantly hears that building more highways will not cure congestion, and that the only way to do this is to build more mass transit. So far it looks like mass transit has essentially zero effect on congestion. We'll see if that holds up over the next few weeks (if the strike lasts a while, which looks likely to me). Perhaps the major argument of mass transit advocates will go out the window.
Dennis Plante responds:
Okay, we'll split hairs. It wasn't a statement, it was a comment. Regardless of WHAT it was, it's irresponsible to "comment" that the transit strike is having "zero impact" on congestion (or whatever it was exactly that he said). Simple physics should tell anyone with half a brain that if you add more autos to the same stretch of road, it increases congestion. Unless of course Strom would like to concede that everyone that was a mass transit rider has just elected to stay home until the strike is settled. Let's see what happens to the taxes of the members of the "taxpayers league" if these individuals end-up either quitting their jobs, or getting fired because they can't get to work.
There are many good reasons to have a mass transit system in a metro area. Relieving congestion on the highways is just one of them.
Dennis Plante Jordan
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