systems linking a suburban parking lot to the central city can
be encouraged and are being tried. Radial systems can also
encourage downtown shopping and cultural activities. But for the
two-thirds who both live in the suburbs and work there, and for the
myriad other activities which take place between parts of the
suburbs, a car or something like it is necessary. One
energy-conserving possibility for the suburbs is small vehicle
transit. Small vehicle transit means the use of car pools, group
taxis, jitneys, employer vans, minibuses, and similar vehicles. The
advantages of small vehicle transit for the suburbs have been
elaborated by Colin Walters of the Washington Center for
Metropolitan Studies.
HIGHLIGHTS
Americans
covered about 6,000 miles per person in intercity travel in 1971.
They travelled an average of 580 miles per person in airplanes, and
over 150 miles per person in buses and trains. Americans even
managed to travel an average of 20 passenger miles per person on
inland waterways (see Table 4-1). Not all people took trips, of
course. As the data on trips by household heads shows, some people
took several trips; others took none at all—including many
persons from lower income families. Eighty-five households out of
100 now have at least one car; 45 households out of 100 have two
cars or more. Half the poor have none.
The car and
the airplane, the most common ways of getting places, are also the
most energy-intensive. Over half of all car mileage is in short
trips, which frequently involve stop-and-go traffic, the most
energy intensive type of car travel.
Car miles
per gallon have declined in recent years. This decline has been
caused mainly by increasing car weight, but is also associated with
new energy-using features such as air conditioning.
For many household heads a car is the only way available to get
to work. For families living in less densely populated
areas—suburbs and rural areas particularly—the car may
be necessary to get to stores, medical care, swimming pools,
private schools, and other social activities. The trends in travel
all point toward increasing energy use. These trends include:
-
The
increasing weight of cars and the subsequent decline in gasoline
mileage.
-
The
substitution of air travel (the most energy intensive mode) for bus
and rail (the least energy intensive modes).
-
The
dispersion of the population to suburbs, where public transit
service is inconvenient or not available and the car is the key to
access to almost all activities.
-
The
increasing use of the auto for commuting to work, by all workers,
regardless of place of residence.
-
The
increase in travel in general on the part of many (though not all)
Americans.