Kyla Fullenwider
The Public Studio + Walking Distance
- February 12, 2009 • 5:18 pm PST
- + responses
A gas tax is a great idea in a perfect world (or in parts of Scandinavia). It keeps people out of their cars, on their bikes and feet and using public transit. It helps curb greenhouse gasses and reduces our dependence on foreign oil and petro dictatorships. It will even act as congestion pricing in some cities. Yet there are other important issues to consider in the debate around a gas tax. I've read Thomas Friedman's ideas on the subject and thought, great idea but how would that work in most of the US?
Most of Western Europe has been taxing their gas at a much higher rate than the US for years and now boasts some of the most used and most efficient public transportation systems in the world. Paris alone has an extensive metro, bus, and now the much beloved (if somewhat troubled) public bike system. The average Parisian- like the average New Yorker- does not own a car so the gas tax is mostly irrelevant. In Europe many (most) cities are medieval; they have a well defined city center and are very walkable/bikeable. It's different in the US. Most cities in the US were built for cars. This is a big problem. The people who would be most affected by the gas tax are likely poor (same with public transit fare increases) and rely on their cars for daily transportation. They are the ones who were most closely watching where they drove when gas prices went up; not because they couldn't afford to go out to dinner that week but because they couldn't afford to get to work.
To move the conversation forward gas tax advocates need to address a few things:
1. Poor People. It's the voices of the disenfranchised that are least heard in these debates. Before we make a call for a gas tax we should be sure to include those voices in the conversation: host some town halls and get the conversation started within the entire community, not just the policy wonks. Bring someone in like LA based James Rojas to lead the conversation.
2. Liveable Cities. We need to re-imagine our cities are walkable, bikeable places and then we need to build. We can start with bike lanes and then move on to more substantial infrastructure. Where my mother lives in Florida there is no subway and there are no bike lanes; the nearest bus stop is a 20 minute walk. And this is not the country. New York based Project for Public Spaces literally wrote the book on the subject and is great resource for building more liveable cities.
3. Public transportation! Namely, we need more of it. Maybe if the gas tax were earmarked for public transportation initiatives the pill would be a little easier to swallow. Groups like New York based Transportation Alternatives are helping lead the way in these kinds of efforts.
The gas tax is a great idea but it should be part of a comprehensive approach to modernizing transportation in the US. Let's make sure we do it right the first time and it will have a better chance of lasting beyond the current administration.
Most of Western Europe has been taxing their gas at a much higher rate than the US for years and now boasts some of the most used and most efficient public transportation systems in the world. Paris alone has an extensive metro, bus, and now the much beloved (if somewhat troubled) public bike system. The average Parisian- like the average New Yorker- does not own a car so the gas tax is mostly irrelevant. In Europe many (most) cities are medieval; they have a well defined city center and are very walkable/bikeable. It's different in the US. Most cities in the US were built for cars. This is a big problem. The people who would be most affected by the gas tax are likely poor (same with public transit fare increases) and rely on their cars for daily transportation. They are the ones who were most closely watching where they drove when gas prices went up; not because they couldn't afford to go out to dinner that week but because they couldn't afford to get to work.
To move the conversation forward gas tax advocates need to address a few things:
1. Poor People. It's the voices of the disenfranchised that are least heard in these debates. Before we make a call for a gas tax we should be sure to include those voices in the conversation: host some town halls and get the conversation started within the entire community, not just the policy wonks. Bring someone in like LA based James Rojas to lead the conversation.
2. Liveable Cities. We need to re-imagine our cities are walkable, bikeable places and then we need to build. We can start with bike lanes and then move on to more substantial infrastructure. Where my mother lives in Florida there is no subway and there are no bike lanes; the nearest bus stop is a 20 minute walk. And this is not the country. New York based Project for Public Spaces literally wrote the book on the subject and is great resource for building more liveable cities.
3. Public transportation! Namely, we need more of it. Maybe if the gas tax were earmarked for public transportation initiatives the pill would be a little easier to swallow. Groups like New York based Transportation Alternatives are helping lead the way in these kinds of efforts.
The gas tax is a great idea but it should be part of a comprehensive approach to modernizing transportation in the US. Let's make sure we do it right the first time and it will have a better chance of lasting beyond the current administration.
.JPG)
