Public transport a necessity

I only live three miles from campus, with a travel time of about five minutes. But sometimes I get stuck in the dreaded afternoon rush hour, which means the trip time should be multiplied by three or four times that total. Sitting in traffic like that everyday wears me down and I've only been doing it for three months.

This frustration takes me back to this past summer, which I spent in Europe. I am sure everyone has had to endure the enlightening conversation of someone relaying how great public transportation is in Europe. No one likes to hear how their way of doing things is horrible compared to someone else's way, but they couldn't be more right. The rail and bus systems are efficient as well as timely. Clogged highways are not as common a problem.

Sitting in monotonous traffic I cannot help but wonder what is the problem with Atlanta, not to mention the rest of the country, and its lack of transportation options. Only New York City offers any sort of public transport comparable to that of Europe's. Every day the subway system of New York serves over six million riders. The next closest on that list is Washington D.C., which serves only a million riders a day and Chicago with 600,000 riders. MARTA clocks in at a little over 200,000 riders a day.

There are over five million people in metro Atlanta. Why aren't more of them using public transportation?

I think it all boils down to people just not caring. Atlanta is known for its traffic-even mocked for it at times-and the residents of the Metro area just keep adding more cars to the road, like it's a contest.

But I am as guilty as everyone out there. I don't want to use MARTA. I don't exactly have $1.75 every day, plus no one really has the bus schedule memorized. So it's quicker and more convenient to just hop in the car and go, rather than crafting my schedule around someone else's. This trap of ego-centric attitudes catches us all.

Everyone asks, "Why should I do it when no one else does?" So every year more and more cars get added to the road. Rush hour drags on for hours more-not to mention what it's doing to the environment.

The problem isn't just with the rider; it is also with the system itself. MARTA was originally meant to expand to all five metro counties. In the end only DeKalb and Fulton followed through with the deal. Why didn't residents of the other three counties want a system that serves their immediate residence? In the next two years the system is scheduled for update and expansion, but it seems like it's a day late and a dollar short.

Looking at this problem from a broader point of view, it's easy to see how cities like Atlanta got this way. Atlanta's population boomed after World War II. The growth was just too fast. The transit system wasn't constructed until 1971. The system was basically built on an already existing infrastructure, and other American cities have the same history.

Even now we are seeing how our habits of not taking action immediately are affecting us directly. Georgia has been experiencing a drought all summer, but only in the past month have people been trying to consciously conserve.

Learning from history we need to go ahead and predict that preparing for the future is our best option. All statistics predict Atlanta experiencing growth for years to come. So as residents of this sprawling metropolitan area, let's go ahead and prepare for it. No one likes change, but something has to give or Atlanta will solidify its hold on some of the worst traffic and pollution in the country.

I'm a civil engineer-in-training, and this topic has constantly come up in my classes over the past four years. I may have a more vested interest in the topic, but everyone needs to take an interest in the subject. By investing in and encouraging the spread of public transportation, not only will we begin clearing up the congestion, but also the air quality. So even if one is naïve enough to believe that climate change is not occurring, easing the congestion will just make the city a more pleasant place to visit.

Hopefully in the future MARTA will improve and the public will begin to accept public transport and other means of getting from one location to another. I know I haven't done my part, but using the excuse of "I'll wait until the next guy," is simply unacceptable.

I hope residents at least start trying. It's not a problem that can be fixed overnight, but hopefully rush hour will soon be a thing of the past and I will eventually find that $1.75.