It’s time to get on the bus, Gus

By Deborah Brasket/Looking Forward

Recently, the Santa Maria Community Coalition sponsored a Ride the Bus Day to encourage those who do not normally use our public bus system to try it out.

Participants discovered that while the Santa Maria Area Transit (SMAT) ran a smooth operation with friendly drivers, the routes often did not meet their needs, and the long wait between buses — as much as an hour in the Orcutt area — made transit an inefficient use of their time.

The fact is, SMAT simply doesn’t have enough buses and routes to make using the bus system attractive to those who have other means of travel. A poll conducted on a local Web site confirms this.

When asked, “What is the biggest reason why you don’t use public transportation,” 52 percent replied inconvenient routes, 44 percent said it takes too long, and only 4 percent said now that gas is affordable, they’d rather use their own vehicles to get around.

The poll results imply that if the routes were more convenient and the wait between stops shorter, more drivers would use the bus system.

With global climate change and diminishing oil supply, no one should be forced to depend upon private vehicle use, and everyone should be given incentives to choose transit over private vehicle use. Many people, moreover, don’t have the option to use private vehicles.

Whether because of disabilities, age or lack of financial means, they are dependent upon transit to get to work or school, to visit the doctor or to go shopping.

Unfortunately, public funding for transportation still strongly favors and subsidizes private vehicle use over transit. Each year, $75 billion in public funding is spent on highways and streets.

One expert’s report concludes: “Government subsidies for highways and parking alone amount to between 8 and 10 percent of our gross national product, the equivalent of a fuel tax of approximately $3.50 per gallon. Including indirect costs such as pollution cleanup and emergency medical treatment, the figure could run as high as $9 per gallon.

“The cost of these subsidies — approximately $5,000 per car per year — is charged directly to the American citizen in the form of increased prices for products or, more often, as income, property, and sales taxes. This means that the hidden costs of driving are paid by everyone, not just drivers, but also those too old or too poor to drive a car.

“And these people suffer doubly, as the very transit systems they count on for mobility cut back on services, unable to compete with the heavily subsidized highways.”

Yet, transit provides the best bang for the public buck. In the Chicago area, mass transit saves drivers 22 hours of sitting in rush-hour traffic each year, resulting in a productivity benefit worth $1.6 billion a year to those drivers alone.

A national study reports that “every $1 spent on transit yields $3.40 in direct local economic output.” Other studies show that funding spent on transit creates twice as many new jobs as spending on highways.

Clearly, funding for transit deserves a much higher priority in the county than it has received, particularly in the North County — which lacks an independent transit agency like South Coast’s MTD, and where transportation planners and political leaders have shown a strong bias against transit.

The Santa Barbara County Associated Governments (SBCAG) will be taking up the issue of funding for transit again next month. Every dollar designated for transit should be spent on transit and not diverted as it often is into roads and streets.

We need to create a transit system in every city and across the county that is competitive with private vehicle use. It’s the right thing to do — for ourselves, our children and future generations.

Deborah Brasket is executive director of the Santa Barbara County Action Network (SB CAN). She can be reached at 722-5094, or Deborah@sbcan.org.