Would you give up your seat on public transit?

Ian Hill asks, “When do you give up your seat on public transportation?” on the KQED News newsfix blog. The question elicited some opinionated responses, which Hill compiled with Storify. Great reading for we “straphangers” who commute by public transit.

Book advocates greater investment in public transit

For the past three weeks, my daily commute on Lake Transit has offered me an occasion to read Straphanger by Taras Grescoe (Times Books, 2012).

Grescoe, like me, is a “straphanger,” defined as “somebody who, by choice or necessity, relies on public transport, rather than a privately owned automobile.”

We need trash containers at bus stops

Trash can attached to CityBus pole in Santa Rosa

Discarded drink containers are a blemish on the landscape at our Lake Transit stops. The problem is that when drivers very reasonably prohibit boarding by people with flimsy cups, the people leave them on the ground.

At the bus shelter at Highway 29 and Young Street, a container is in place for trash and for recyclables but only because my husband and I dragged it from its original location down the street.

Jonathan and I dragged a trash and recycling container from down the street
to its new location at this Lake Transit stop

(This same container is too seldom emptied, however, and is once again near overflowing.)

At the majority of stops, trash containers are non-existent and garbage is left on the ground or, at those stops that have shelters, is left on the seats or seat backs.

Disposable cup left on bus shelter bench

During a recent walk in downtown Santa Rosa, I found a possible solution: a sturdy metal waste container attached directly to the pole designating a CityBus stop.

Next time a person faces the dilemma of being unable to board his or her bus with a plastic cup that is prone to spilling, how simple would it be to provide similar containers where bus patrons and walkers-by can conveniently dispose of their trash?

‘Straphanger: Making a Case for Public Transport’

Cover image: Straphanger by Taras Grescoe

To my list of must-read books, add Straphanger by Taras Grescoe (Times Books, 2012). An excerpt from the book’s introduction is published at utne.com.

Considerable gap between transit and auto costs

Cost of travel for transit-proximate and car-dependant households
Source of data: Taras Grescoe, citing Brookings Institute study

From Taras Grescoe, author of Straphanger (Times Books, 2012), comes this amazing statistic about the cost of travel in households that are near public transit versus those that rely upon cars:

“According to a Brookings Institution study, transit-proximate households in the United States devote only 9 percent of their income to transportation compared to 25 percent for the car dependent.”

Cover: Straphanger
by Taras Grescoe

The book has accompanied me during my bus commute each day. I used Microsoft Excel to create this chart, which visualizes the considerable gap between transportation costs.

Clearly, the cost of auto travel adds up and I need only compare the monthly cost of my Lake Transit pass -- $40 for the entire month -- and the cost to fill up the tank -- at least $40 a week.

Grescoe cites additional health benefits for relying upon public transit:

“Because every trip to a bus stop or subway station starts with a walk, transit users in the United States average 19 minutes of walking a day -- close to the 22 minutes a day recommended by the U.S. Center for Disease Control.”

Grescoe recommends the use of WalkScore.com, which rates neighborhoods nationwide from 0, completely car-dependent, to 100 for a “Walker’s Paradise.”

My neighborhood, I was pleased to note, rates 75, very walkable.

Straphanger (388.4 GRESCOE) can be found through the combined catalog system of our Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma County libraries. An excerpt from the book’s introduction is published at utne.com.

Did someone say ‘graph’?: Taras Grescoe’s carbon emissions

Carbon emissions for kerosene-fueled jet, diesel-fueled car and electric train
Source of data: Taras Grescoe, citing the Deutsche Bahn website

Straphanger by Taras Grescoe (Times Books, 2012) has accompanied me this week on my daily Lake Transit commute.

Grescoe, like me, is a “straphanger,” defined as “somebody who, by choice or necessity, relies on public transport, rather than a privately owned automobile.” His book argues for greater investment in public transportation and less dependence upon automobiles.

During last night’s reading, I encountered a comparison of Grescoe’s 1,000-mile journey by train from Paris to Copenhagen with other forms of travel.

Bottled water labeling

From the Ashland Food Co-op website:
Reuseable water bottles are environmentally-responsible
alternative to single-serving bottled water

 ConsumerReports.org has compiled a glossary of bottled-water labeling terms and what they say about the water’s origins. The essay cites a finding by SymphonyIRI Group: that sales of bottled water increased 2 percent, to $7.8 billion, from August 2010 to August 2011.

Terms include Artesian, Distilled, Mineral, Purified, Sparkling and Spring. Among the terms is P.W.S., which stands for “Public water source” or municipal water supply.

“Whatever the bottle says, don’t be misled by crisp blue labels and pictures of mountains,” the essay states: “Forty-seven percent of the bottled water sold in the U.S. is tap water that’s been purified, according to data from the Beverage Marketing Association, a trade group.”

Given the cost of purchasing something that I could get free from the tap, especially since the likelihood is that it was bottled from tap water anyway, I think it much more attractive -- and environmentally sustainable -- to use a refillable water bottle.

Read the complete essay at http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/07/do-you-know-where-your-bottled-water-comes-from/index.htm.

My thanks to TapItWater for bringing attention to this essay, assisted by a re-tweet on Twitter by Matt Weiser of the Sacramento Bee.