Making Transit Work Insight from Western Europe, Canada, and the United States -- Special Report 257 (2001) / Chapter Skim
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External Policies and Factors Affecting Transit Use
External Policies and Factors Affecting Transit Use
Pages 114-147
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From page 114... ...
Yet there are numerous other reasons why Western Europeans use transit more than Americans. Their governments have a long history of taxing automobiles as luxury goods, tightly regulating urban lane!
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From page 115... ...
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS Pressures from Population and Social Change Basic demographic data reveal major differences in population trencis in North America and Western Europe, especially since World War Il. Western Europe's population has been static as compared with that of the United States and Canada during this period (see Figure 4-1~.
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From page 117... ...
Whereas Western European transit operators have not been immune to such problems, they have not been as profoundly affected. With so many economic, demographic, and social factors differentiating urban America, Canada, and Western Europe, it is certainly reasonable to question their comparability.
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From page 118... ...
Throughout much of the post-WorId War IT period, the array of consumer choices available to Western Europeans was limited, not only because of public policies, but also because of economic conditions. Few Western Europeans had sufficient income to buy their own home, much less a single-family house on a large lot outside the city.
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From page 119... ...
Because few Western Europeans owned motor vehicles until the 1960s and 1970s, it is doubtful that many paid much attention to early fuel tax policies. As late as 1960, there were only 4.5 million automobiles in West Germany, or about 1 for every 12 people (see Figure 4-3~.
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From page 121... ...
FIGURE 4-3 Passenger cars per 100 people in the United States, Canada, and major Western European countries, 1960-1990 (AAMA 1997)
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From page 122... ...
next, the oilier and more compact Western European cities are simply not as well suited to the automobile as the newer, more dispersed American cities. Thus, whether by adopting higher vehicle taxes, promoting public transit, or restricting cars in center cities, Western Europeans have many compelling reasons to take steps that discourage automobile use.
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From page 123... ...
: ~ ~ I ~ "' ~ By l 1 ' {~DI &3 i: ~ l 1 ~1 1 b R; to o o U elideD `ad m~ al0!
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From page 124... ...
consumer-oriented, quick to adopt new technologies even if doing so reacts to frequent relocating or refashioning of their surrounctings (Rybczynski 1 996, 235; Goldberg and Mercer 1 986, 12-32~. The contrast in the way American cities eagerly introducecl electric streetcars at the end of the 19th century while Western European cities remained cautious (see Chapter 2)
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From page 125... ...
Certainly the older, medieval Western European cities provide settings that are well suited to urban preservation policies such as restricting city centers to pedestrian traffic. Not only are the meandering streets and small buildings naturally amenable to strolling, but the historic character of many Western European downtowns attracts many pedestrians.
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From page 126... ...
126 · MAKING TRANSIT WORK Cat Cl)
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From page 128... ...
land. Although public concern over urban land
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From page 129... ...
, but it has yet to emerge as a national concern, as it has been for many ctecacles in Western Europe. Western European countries many physically smaller than a single medium-sized U.S.
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hierarchical political traditions, Western Europeans are commonly
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From page 131... ...
verity of such characterizations are debatable, and whether they are rooted in fundamentally different public attitudes is unclear. Sociologists have long noted differences in how Western Europeans and Americans respond to surveys of public opinion about the environment and community.
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From page 132... ...
How close do you feel to your neighborhood or village? 90 - 1 1 so 70 60 4, en 50 A 40 30 20 so o 60 50 40 43 43 30 4' 20 10 o ~ Close/very close ~ Not close 1 West Gennan Bntish American Austrian Dutch Swede Canadian How often do you cut back on driving for environmental reasons?
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From page 133... ...
As discussed in the preceding chapter, Canada and many Western European countries are governed in ways that enable national and regional bodies to exercise more direct influence over land use plans and the provision of many local services, such as schools, parks, and policing. In some countries, such as Great Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands, local governments are largely administrative agents tasked with supplying the prescribed services, which are paid for by the larger national or provincial governments (Mackensen 1999; Heidenheimer et al.
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From page 134... ...
By the time rationing ant! other emergency conditions created by the wartime damage subsided during the 1 950s, Western Europeans had become accustomed to their governments' assumption of a prominent role in the planning of residential and commercial development.
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From page 135... ...
British cities that were rebuilt in place, Western European planners were presented with a scale and range of opportunities for directly shaping urban form that clid not exist in the United States. Although the United States avoided significant wartime damage and prolonged shortages of consumer goods, it was faced with millions of returning military personnel who were reentering the private workforce and setting up househoicis.
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From page 136... ...
Several other government-initiated programs designed to make mortgage financing easier and less expensive for home buyers are often cited as contributing to Tow-density development (Nivola 1999, 221. These include federal home mortgage insurance (e.g., administered by the Federal Housing Administration and the Veterans Administration)
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From page 137... ...
maintain that the refusal of Canadian provinces to pursue similar policies for instance, by not providing tax subsidies for new public water systems on the outskirts of cities—has fostered a lower rate of detached, single-family home construction (usually about 50 percent of new housing starts in Canada each year as compared with about 70 percent in the United States and more compact urban development patterns generally. In addition to the direct provision of housing units, most Western European governments have many other programs and policies affecting housing demand and supply.
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From page 138... ...
Critics claim it skews investment in favor of freeway building, since few local entities are likely to pass on the opportunity for significant federal aid when so little local funding is required (Rose 1979, 96~.9 Another concern is that the central role of fecleral and state government in paying for and building urban highways has spurred urban highway construction without proper consideration for local impacts, including changes in urban form and public transit demand. This imbalance led to federal grants for public transportation, funded in part by the Highway Trust Fund, beginning in the 1960s.
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From page 139... ...
TRANSIT POLICY-MAKING AND FUNDING ENVIRONMENT Management Autonomy The decision-making authority of public transit managers in the Unites! States is often highly circumscribed and subject to regulatory and political influences that impede innovation, add to management and labor inefficiencies, and otherwise complicate efforts to respond to the demands of customers.
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From page 140... ...
Western Europeans and Canadians are frequently characterized as more trusting of, or even deferential to, public bureaucracies for the provision of a wide range of services (Goldberg and Mercer 1986, 13-32; Heidenheimer et al.
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From page 141... ...
Some observers suggest that political values and other cultural factors differentiate Canadians from Americans (Goldberg and Mercer 1986, 1 1-311. Canadians, like Western Europeans, are portrayed as having a strong collectivist spirit
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From page 143... ...
In contrast with the United States, where most state governments have ceded land use controls to local government, the provinces have retained this authority, along with controls over transportation decision making. The ability to raise tax revenues, guicle land use, and plan transportation at the regional level has proven to be a powerful tool in Canada; however, having the institutional capability for such regional governance floes not ensure that this capability will be used to promote compact urban areas favorable to public transit.
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From page 144... ...
REFERENCES ABBREVIATIONS AAMA American Automobile Manufacturers Association API American Petroleum Institute IEA MVMA TRB International Energy Administration Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association Transportation Research Board AAMA.
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Does the U.S. Tax Treatment of Housing Promote Suburbanization and Central City Decline?
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From page 146... ...
1999. Decentralization and Residential Choices in Western European Cities The Role of State and Markets.
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From page 147... ...
1997. Special Report use Toward a Sustainable Future Addressing the Long-Term Effects of Motor Vehicle Transportation on Climate and Ecology.
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