The Impacts of Public Transportation

As cities and people evolve so does the public transportation systems they use and the benefits that it gives us. The use of public transportation can cut down traffic, give you health benefits, and cut down on pollution. Public transportation has many forms including trains, city buses, trolleybuses, trams, rapid transit, and ferries. Most cities around the world have public transportation systems, with some countries and cities pushing it more than others. Public transportation is heavily used by our European counterparts, who have a stable and efficient public transportation system with a large population who uses it. By offering cheaper costs for taking their public transportation rather than owning your own car or taking a taxi is why their citizens are encouraged to take the public transit. With so many tourists and citizens using their public transportation it has allowed for the refinement of their system and one that can handle the influx of use, thus boosting the economy. Further, use of public transportation systems allows for an overall decrease in emissions thus improving the environment and your health and safety. Following I will be covering why you should use public transportation instead of having a personal car because public transportation is better on the environment, healthier for you, and boosts the economy.

Around the world it is known that cutting down how many cars are on the road can help the environment. One of the reasons why I urge you to take public transportation is because of the environmental benefits it offers. By cutting down on how many cars are on the road, you are cutting down the amount of fossil fuels that are emitted into the air. With fewer cars on the road, there are fewer sources emitting CO?, oils, and other contaminants into the atmosphere and the surrounding environment. Another benefit of public transportation, is that these systems are monitored for their levels of emissions and are being maintained so that they are not harming the environment more than they have to. It should be noted that this constant monitoring is not available with regular automobiles and makes public transportation a better option. Karla Hoffman (2012) focuses her research on emissions of traffic in congestion ( Hoffman, 2012). Hoffman suggests that to counter the emissions from cars in congestion to have them pay a fee to go into heavy population areas and she then looks at how european countries have implemented this system ( Hoffman, 2012). She also points out how express lanes are liked by the public and help cut down emissions by lowering congestion in that it helps keep traffic moving (Hoffman, 2012). Although it can be seen that buses and other large transportation vehicles have a larger output of fossil fuels in comparison to one car, it can also be seen that if you take multiple cars off the road then it makes up for the difference. If you look at buses they also are starting to use combinations that are better for the environment such as bio fuels. Many trains and rapid transit are also switching their fuel sources to electricity which only further reduces their emissions. Though electric power sources still have emissions from the power plants that generate that power, these numbers are significantly lower than if they used traditional fossil fuels daily. Looking at what Tolga Ercan (2017) says “Moreover, the high dependency on private vehicles in the U.S. has significant environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas (GHG), and conventional air pollutant (CO, NOx, SOx, PM10, PM2.5, and VOC) emissions (Onat et al., 2015, Onat et al., 2014b). In addition to the climate change impacts of these emissions, their impacts on society can be measured in terms of externalities, which accounts for human health impacts, timber loss, and other relevant factors (Muller and Mendelsohn, 2007, Muller and Mendelsohn, 2006)”(Ercan, 2017). By taking Public transportation like I suggest you are saving the planet by reducing your carbon footprint and creating a healthier more stable environment. Ercan also says “U.S. transportation-related CO2 emissions are presented in Fig. 3e. The projections in this graph indicate that emissions can be reduced by 2050 to even lower levels than those in 1990. Due to the heavy dependency on fossil fuels in the U.S. transportation sector, transportation-related CO2 emissions are the second largest contributor to the total U.S. CO2 emission rate, and so many initiatives besides shifting toward public transit are being put into effect to decrease the current increasing trend in transportation-related CO2 emissions in the U.S., such as government regulations to improve fuel economy.” (Ercan, 2017). So it can also be seen that if they are already going to be polluting the environment for you why don't you stop you pollusion with your car and take the public transportation. Looking at both Hoffman’ s and Ercan’s discussions they look at two different ways the environment is affected by emissions and they both suggest taking public transportation as a solution. Anyone going to Cleveland State University also have an extended reason to take public transportation in that we as students get free passes to take any of the buses or rapid transit that the city offers.

Using public transportation is also a healthier option for you as a resident. Using public transit can help reduce the amount of stress on your body because you wouldn’t have to worry about navigating the large amounts of traffic, which is often found in bigger cities. These large amounts of traffic can also make finding a parking spot in some areas very difficult, by taking public transportation you wouldn’t have to worry about this trifling matter thus further reducing your self-inflicted stress. It was found “that control over the commute to work influences stress perception and that there are differences between active and passive modes of commuting” (Gottholmseder et al., 2009). Further, it was found that “motorcycle use was associated with high stress levels.” (Gottholmseder et al., 2009). This study found that there was a significant difference in commuting to work by car, motorcycle, or by public transportation and the amount of stress one felt. These factors were, however, more influenced by other factors such as commuting time. In a study comparing a more direct transit systems to other transportation it was “found that riders on this new line had lower levels of stress, as multiply measured, than they had earlier, before the advent of this new train, or than did other riders currently using the Hoboken-PATH option. The stress effects seemed to be mediated by the time of the trip – that is, the reduced trip time of the new, direct service seemed to be a primary factor in the reduced stress to riders.” ( Wener et al, 2003). By taking a more passive role when commuting, people are also able to think and complete other tasks safely. Potentially, if you were thinking about something while driving or trying to complete another task it may distract you enough to get in an accident. Public transportation can reduce your overall stress levels by reducing the amount of time worrying about other drivers, your own driving skill, and by allowing you a safe area to think or complete other tasks. Public transportation also has the potential to improve your physical health as well. Patterson (2019) looked into how public transportation may lead to the idea of doing physical journeys and how there might be a link between public transportation and society having a lower Body Mass Index(Patterson, 2019). In their research they found and said “Results from the meta-analysis showed that initiating public transportation use was associated with a BMI reduction of 0.30 units (95% con?dence interval (CI): 0.14, 0.47).”(Patterson, 2019) Later they then go on to say “There were reductions in the daily total stroke mortality rate of 39.3% (95% CI: 6.8, 60.4) within 5 miles of the light rail line and 33.3% (95% CI: 10.0, 50.6) within 10 miles of the light rail line” (Patterson, 2019). So it can be seen by the data given by Patterson that they tended to find trends between public transportation use and people's health improving. In Yang’s (2018) paper he says “Despite the limitations, our study has the potential to contribute to the design of e?ective interventions that enhance health and quality of life for the burgeoning aging population in the U.S.”(Yang, 2018). He then follows it by saying “First, it con?rms the active travel advantages that urban areas, broadly construed, can provide. Furthermore, by accommodating the di?erent needs and ability for various groups, multimodal travel options accrue travel and health bene?ts to others (Lynott and Figueiredo, 2011).”(Yang 2018). In the end, Yang discusses that because of health issues older Americans face they find it harder to use public transportation using it less often and that some change is needed to make it worth it for them, but overall that public transportation is still good for you(Yang, 2018). So by looking at both studies on transportation and health it can be seen that it is agreed that taking public transportation is healthier for you. It can help reduce your stress levels and can lead to better BMI’s and health due to the slight increase in walking to and from locations. Though there is some more work to be completed in order to better include older Americans, public transportation is clearly a healthier option in comparison to traditional transportation by car or motorcycle.

In addition, you should take public transportation because it will boost our economy. Most places have a year long pass that you can buy in order to utilize public transportation systems. This allows you to pay a one-time payment enabling you to ride city transportation without having to buy fare for every trip within that year. Some cities also have partnerships with companies, associations, and schools for giving access to the public transportation system to the employees and students for a small fee. This system is utilized at Cleveland State University for its students giving them ease of access to public transportation. The associated costs are already included within their tuition allowing them to get the free use of the public transportation. This boosts the reason why college students such as us at Cleveland State University should use public transportation.

On the other hand you can argue that you shouldn’t take public transportation, because of time, costs, availability, and because of the overall overwhelming process. To a lot of people time is a big consideration in not taking public transportation. Many see that it takes longer to get from one place to another using public transportation than taking a personal car. Often times, individuals also have to wait for the public transportation vehicles to arrive because sometimes the times of arrival on the time schedule are spread pretty far apart. Though both issues are true for many people these issues can be easily combated and fixed. With an influx of more people taking public transportation there will be a greater opportunity for the system to be more developed by the community. This development process could lead to an increase in the number of buses and more buses being allocated to routes that have more people utilizing them. If this occurs then the associated schedule and time issues would decrease since there would be a greater rotation of buses arriving at stations. As with all city problems, if change does not occur or something is not to your liking you can either message the city by a letter or email voicing your complaint and offering a solution to how they could improve their service to you As pointed out earlier this will also help our economy by creating more jobs for people. Moving to how it takes more time to travel than it does

Relooking at everything on why you should take public transportation is it helps protect the environment, it is better for our bodies to take public transportation, and it is better for the economy if you take public transportation. As mentioned in the first paragraph taking public transportation helps the environment in lower emissions from cars on the road. Secondly taking public transportation is also healthier on your body. And lastly it helps build up the economy. With for us at Cleveland State University having the bonus of why we should use it in that we get to ride all the public transit for free. So along with all the benefits that taking public transportation you have that it is free to use so no reason to say no to using it.

References

Ercan, T., Onat, N. C., Tatari, O., & Mathias, J.-D. (2017). Public transportation adoption requires a paradigm shift in urban development structure. Journal of Cleaner Production, 1789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.11.109

Gottholmseder, G., Nowotny, K., Pruckner, G. J., & Theurl, E. (2009). Stress perception and commuting. Health Economics, 18(5), 559-576. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.1389

Henning-Smith, C., Evenson, A., Kozhimannil, K., & Moscovice, I. (2018). Geographic variation in transportation concerns and adaptations to travel-limiting health conditions in the United States. Journal of Transport & Health, 8, 137–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2017.11.146

Hoffman, K. ( 1 ), Berardino, F. ( 2 ), & Hunter, G. ( 3 ). (n.d.). Congestion pricing applications to manage high temporal demand for public services and their relevance to air space management. Transport Policy, 28, 28–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.02.004

Patterson, R., Webb, E., Hone, T., Millett, C., & Laverty, A. A. (2019). Associations of Public Transportation Use With Cardiometabolic Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. American Journal of Epidemiology, 188(4), 785. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=135632594&site=eds-live&scope=site

Nordfjærn, T., ?im?eko?lu, Ö., & Rundmo, T. (2014). The role of deliberate planning, car habit and resistance to change in public transportation mode use. Transportation Research Part F: Psychology and Behaviour, 27(Part A), 90–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2014.09.010

Yang, Y. ( 1 ), Zhang, H. ( 1 ), Xu, Y. ( 2 ), Rodriguez, D. A. ( 3 ), & Michael, Y. ( 4 ). (n.d.). Active travel, public transportation use, and daily transport among older adults: The association of built environment. Journal of Transport and Health, 9, 288–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2018.01.012

Wener, R. E., Evans, G. W., Phillips, D., & Nadler, N. (2003). Running for the 7:45: The effects of public transit improvements on commuter stress. Transportation, 30(2), 203-220. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/ejournals/article/321384761

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