The widest highway in the world, the Katy Freeway in Houston, has a staggering 26 lanes across and sees an average of 297,000 vehicles per day. Conversely, the portion of the 6 line that travels just through Manhattan sees an average daily ridership of 410,912 people. For decades, we designed cities to maximize the number of cars we could move in and out with little to no regard for the impacts that would make. Since the beginning of the national highway system, neighborhoods were destroyed, communities divided, and funds funneled from public transit to highway authorities. We will be dealing with the repercussions of these decisions for decades, but there has never been a better time to reimagine what our cities look like and who they benefit. The good news is that we’re already well on our way, and recent announcements in New York, like congestion pricing, are going to have profound impacts on our cities.
Safe, reliable, and robust public transit is one of the key aspects that make cities function well for everyone. The NYC subway system, for example, moves upwards of 4 million people of all social and economic classes daily. It serves as a great equalizer, allowing anyone to move freely throughout the city for only $2.75 ($2.90 come August). Yet not all transit systems are built with equity in mind. Consider how difficult it is to move between the outer boroughs without first traveling through Manhattan, or how someone taking the subway to commute still spends over $30 a week on transit, which is not an insignificant amount for most working-class New Yorkers. New York has addressed this last point with their Fair Fares Program, an initiative that offers half-price transit costs for anyone making less than $14,580 annually. With all this in mind, let’s discuss just a few of the many benefits that an expanded and strengthened public transit system can provide.
