As gasoline rises past a record $4 per gallon in the United States^*, we're hearing more and more about people leaving their cars for public transit. In the first few months of 2008, transit ridership has increased 5% on New York City's commuter trains, 8% in Denver's system, and a full 16% on Minneapolis-St. Paul light rail, compared to the same time last year. Miami's commuter rail saw a whopping 28% year-over-year increase just for April.

The ability of people to switch from cars to transit (or bicycling or walking, for that matter), however, is directly tied to the past planning and investment decisions made by local government. People can only choose to use transit where transit exists -- and even where transit systems are built and operating, they will only last as long as they are funded in a sustainable way...

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This is an excerpt from Daniel Lerch's blog at our Post Carbon Cities program. Click here to read the full article at postcarboncities.net.

^* Gasoline/petrol, of course, is already well past this mark elsewhere, with prices above the equivalent of $8 per gallon in Germany and $9.50 per gallon in the UK.