Improving Policy Making in Public Transportation

During the past 20 years, government officials and urban planners have become increasingly aware that transportation system initiated by one generation is one of the most important legacies handed down to the next generation.' Academicians state that . . (T)he kind of city we live in today is largely a product of the transportation system.2 Even though policy makers and academicians suggest that transportation is of utmost importance, our public transportation systems are in shambles. Pott, a researcher of transportation policy making, states, By any standard index the transit mode is a failure as a utility. Its usage is declining, except in scattered instances. Its percentage in the daily travel market has declined to insignificance.I Another public transportation expert calls urban mass transit policy making Mockery of Ad Hoc-ery.4 This situation demonstrates the urgent need for more efficient and effective policy making in the public transportation area, which can only be done with greater communication among policy makers, leaders of commuter groups, and concerned and informed citizens. Yet the type of systematic communication that is needed does not really evolve in the public hearing setting. These meetings often result in shouting matches between policy makers and commuter groups. Policy makers accuse commuters of not being realistic, suggesting that commuters want good service but are unrealistic about its cost and unwilling to pay for it. Commuters accuse policy makers of not being sensitive to the horrendous conditions of most public transportation systems because they never use them. A third group, the academicians involved in public policy evaluation, analyze the situation and offer suggestions for improvement that are rarely taken seriously. Many policy makers visualize the academicians as ivory tower, absent-minded professors, who do not understand the reality of policy making. This lack of communication and cooperation, exacerbated by rapidly increasing fares and deteriorating service, leads to less rather than more effective policy making. Policy makers, commuters, academicians, and other informed citizens must understand each others' views and communicate in a more systematic manner in order to solve our mass transit problems. Policy makers are becoming aware that survey research quite effectively serves this purpose. In an article entitled Survey Research for Public Administrators, which appeared in a recent edition of The Public * Our concerns over energy, the urban crisis, and our unhealthy environment have demonstrated the urgency of a new commitment of human energy and resources to public transportation policy making. This research was designed to obtain systematic input from academics, policy makers and leaders of commuter groups on how various policy alternatives being considered by county, state and federal transit policy makers would probably affect public transportation usage in the New York metropolitan region. Some of these policies have already been implemented in other areas of the nation. Others are currently under consideration. Respondents to a mailed questionnaire were asked to predict how each of these policy alternatives, if implemented in the New York metropolitan region, would probably affect public transportation ridership in general, as well as their own use of public transportation. They were also asked whether they approve or disapprove of these policies given the probable costs. Thus, the results highlight the differences and similarities among the groups concerning both the political feasibility and probable impacts of the policy alternatives

Business · Policy making · Political science · Public policy · Public transport · Regional science · Sociology · Law · Public Administration · Transportation Planning and Optimization

• Public Transit Access for Disabled Persons in the United States

  David Pfeiffer•Disability Handicap & Society•1990

  Add to list