Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Commuting

Delaware Senator Dares to Utter the Word “Transit”

carper.jpgEven as the price of gas turns into a hot-button campaign issue, the presidential candidates are studiously avoiding the "T" word -- transit -- for the most part.

But the notion of driving less and riding more is bubbling up, even in the corridors of Congress. We turn to Delaware Senator Thomas Carper, who made use of a floor debate on reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration to deliver the following remarks last week:

I ride the train back and forth most days. I live in Delaware, andI go back and forth. As my colleague, the Presiding Officer, knows, Igo back and forth almost every night to Delaware. A strange thing isgoing on with respect to passenger rail ridership in this country.

I used to serve on the Amtrak board when I was Governor ofDelaware, and every year we would see ridership go up by a couple ofpercentage points. We would struggle, try to raise money out of thefare box to pay for the system and the expansion of the system. Well,the first quarter of this fiscal year, ridership at Amtrak is up 15percent. Revenues are up by 15 percent. People are starting to realizethat maybe it makes sense to get out of our cars, trucks, and vans andtake the train or take transit. Transit ridership is up again thisfiscal year more dramatically than it has been in some time.

The speech may be buried in the Congressional Record (search for S3479), but who else in the Senate is connecting the dots between reducing dependence on oil and investing in rail? More from Carper, including some astute observations that touch on land use, after the jump. (Be sure to read the last paragraph.)

Americans are beginning to literally buy homes in places that arecloser to opportunities for transit -- for rail, for bus, for subways,for the metro systems. As we have seen the drop in home prices acrossthe country -- in some cases, very dramatic -- among the surprises, atleast for me, is to see housing prices stable and in some casesactually going up in places where people can buy a home and live andget to work or wherever they need to go to shop without driving to getthere.

I don't know how gullible we think the American voters are tosuggest to them that we are going to have this holiday on gas taxes,Federal gas taxes, for 3 months or for 6 months, maybe to get usthrough the next election, and then when the elections are over wewill go ahead and reinstate the gasoline tax to what it has been eventhough in doing that we might be depleting further the money availablefor transportation improvements. I don't know how foolish we think theAmerican voters are. They are a lot smarter than that. They are a lotsmarter, maybe, than we give them credit for being.

I think in this country people are crying out for leadership. Theyare calling out for Presidential leadership, whether it is from ourside of the aisle or the Republican side. People want leaders who arewilling to stay out of step when everybody else is marching to thewrong tune, and I would suggest that the wrong tune is to suspend theFederal gasoline tax and at the same time not replace the dollars thatwould otherwise go into the transportation trust fund to fix ourdilapidated, our decaying transportation system. Voters in thiscountry deserve better leadership from us. I am determined, I amcommitted to making sure we provide and pay for that.

Before I close, there are a lot of good ideas for things we oughtto do. I mentioned, tongue in cheek, that we ought to provide more R&Dinvestment for a new generation of lithium batteries for plug-inhybrid vehicles. I say, tongue in cheek, we ought to use theGovernment purchasing power to commercialize advanced technologyvehicles. We are doing that. I said with tongue in cheek we ought toprovide tax credits to encourage people to buy highly efficient hybridvehicles and very low diesel-powered vehicles that are efficient. Weare doing that.

There other things we need to do too. We need to invest in railservice. We can send from Washington, DC, to Boston, MA, a ton offreight by rail on 1 gallon of diesel fuel. I will say that again. Wecould send from Washington, DC, to Boston, MA, a ton of freight byrail on 1 gallon of diesel fuel. But we as a government choose not toinvest in freight rail and, frankly, to invest very modestly inpassenger rail. It is a highly energy-efficient way to move people andgoods.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

The ‘Problem’ With E-Bikes? The Super Fast Illegal Ones

New Yorkers are riding illegal vehicles marketed as e-bikes with little to no-consequences, and it's a safety problem.

October 21, 2025

The ‘War on Cars’ Is Worth Fighting — And Here’s What Life Might Look Like When We Win

A first book from the prolific podcast hosts offers a solid foundation for would-be advocates against automobility — and some new ammunition for veterans.

October 21, 2025

Tuesday’s Headlines: Carnage All Over Edition

Monday's papers were a blood tide of crashes. Plus other news.

October 21, 2025

‘Outrage’: Pols — And Even DOT Boss — Protest Trump’s Block on 34th St. Busway

A huge rally in Midtown to urge President Trump to get his meathooks off our transit included DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, who is poised to capitulate.

October 20, 2025

Monday’s Headlines: Uncharted Territory Edition

"No Kings" means hands off our busway. Plus the news.

October 20, 2025

More Tantrums: City Halts 34th Street Busway After Threat from Trump DOT

The feds threatened to cut city and state funding if New York doesn't halt all work on the 34th Street busway so the FHWA can review the project.

October 17, 2025
See all posts