Most weekday mornings, since the beginning of the fall semester, I have found myself standing at a bus stop located near an intersection with the Palmetto Expressway, one of Miami’s heavily used routes, nearby.
Most mornings, as I sit and wait patiently for the bus to arrive, I look inside the hundreds of cars that are crawling along – some westbound and some eastbound – and notice something very interesting. Most of these vehicles, built for four or five occupants, are inhabited solely by their drivers. Amongst one hundred cars, that means that there are 400 empty seats just being taken for a stroll.
I stare at this picture often and feel as though there’s something wrong with it.
When the bus finally arrives, and I see a full house of forty or so people join together to share the common portion of their commutes, I see an alternative that makes much more sense and yet, hundreds of people continue to wastefully drive their sedans and pickup trucks along the same streets.
A public relations officer for Miami-Dade Transit explained that there are two kinds of transit users: choice riders and those who have to use their transit system.
The latter includes low-income workers who do not have personal automobiles and those older than 65, who ride for free under the agency’s generous Golden Passport program. The former, however, describes people who make a choice either to use the transit system or to stray far from it. These are people with options, meaning they’re a tougher sell for the transit system but also a good measure of how the transit system is regarded by the community.
Some choice riders that I know find it alien to even consider using the public transit system. My recent suggestion to an acquaintance of mine to take the bus to her destination yielded her questioning of my sanity: “are you crazy?”
Maybe she just doesn’t understand the transit system, as many of the choice riders I’ve spoken to have indicated, but who’s to say I’m crazy when I question her for driving a gas-guzzling, seven-seater Ford Expedition all by herself and shying away from situations where she might have to give someone a lift?
The public relations officer thinks this reality stems from Miami’s history as a city that grew up with the automobile, but just like a good number of teenage relationships, Miami has become clingy in its love affair with the automobile.
It’s time to take a step back and re-consider what an automobile is – a passenger vehicle. If you’re not transporting people besides yourself, you should think twice and leave your car at home.
I can assure you the bus stop isn’t too far away.
