As a relatively new major urban center implant (sorry Columbus, but COTA does not qualify you for consideration in this blog), this story (when I first saw it all the way back in May) caught my eye. Boston has a fairly extensive and fairly well-known (one often thinks it’s known more for its problems than successes) public transit system, with multiple train lines, busses that criss-cross the city, and commuter rail that connects outlying towns and suburbs.
The MBTA system around Boston
Every morning on the T.
I’m a huge proponent of the T, despite its continual issues about performing well below the temperature of 60 and above 85 degrees and its bogus funding and deferred maintenance structures. Additionally, although the planning and construction of residential and commercial around the future stations is right on the mark, the Green Line expansion project is one of the biggest laughs of current MBTA planning, primarily because they are trying to add length and service to a line that is already woefully overcapacity and has planning issues when you try to get past Haymarket and North Station.
The article above is interesting because it details another aspect of how my generation, the millennial generation, is changing the dynamics of the American cultural/political/life landscape. Driving is down, and some believe it is because millennials are less likely to drive, or even get a driver’s license. Urban centers are where the jobs are at, and where innovation lies (I need another “beating a dead horse” gif for the word ‘innovation,’ good gracious). Culture, food, and intracity transportation are all within the grasp of your office and your residence. Urban centers are now paying for rural lands, with city residents paying more taxes while rural residents collect more government dollars, in many states. Coming out of this last recession, home ownership in the urban center is more attractive than before… I think one article I read said that within Boston, more than 75% of condos/homes for sale saw initial offers above asking price.
For me personally, I would never give up owning my car even living in the city. I got my American drivers license in Texas during college, where it was essential to drive (and even drove busses for cash money at A&M). Eugene and I like to travel and get out of the city on weekends, and so, a car is essential, and really something I’ll never give up. A trip to the outlets, IKEA, or a mall about 30 minutes to the west is way too attractive and happens way too often for grabbing a ZipCar. However, with urban centers growing in size, density, and technological capacity, the youth of the city forsaking cars for public transportation is not surprising.
This is not your suburban 1950s, and President Eisenhower’s Interstate System is crumbling.
However, what remains to be seen is whether cities can keep up with demand, both physically and technologically. It is absolutely no secret that our public transportation is woefully behind in the times compared to the bulk of Europe and Japan, but I attribute that primarily to our driving, interstate, and suburban culture, and then our lack of commitment to maintaining those superstructures. But what happens when needy and demanding millennials come of age, have urban families, and realize that we need to get political to make change? With our nation’s crumbling infrastructure (bridge collapses almost annually, and here in Boston, the MBTA and construction on basically every Boston-Cambridge bridge), we need to invest heavily in public infrastructure not only to bring it up to code but to go beyond and create a viable transit system that is more than Hubway bike systems.
It’s going to take investment (financial, time, and construction), and that is always a struggle. It’s going to take politicians and neighborhood leaders committed to the transit realities of tomorrow, not today.
The city [Charlotte, NC] tries to channel growth into manageable areas, he said, by filling in the urban core with new development and encouraging new construction along major transportation corridors, including an expanding rail line. “It didn’t happen by mistake,” he said.
Public transit is not a mistake, and it’s not the only solution. A balanced city that embraces walking, biking, green space, public transportation, and viable traffic patterns for driving is the real solution that we should put our minds to. Let’s see if my generation can do it for ourselves.
Or, we can just give a trophy to everyone on the T.
Polar Bears and Coffee 
