Study and comparison of Minneapolis light rail system with similar nearby bus transit and no transit zones, etc. See esp. the comments for insights and criticisms.
This is one of those where I’m satisfied to merely bring it to the Forum’s attention - I’m not necessarily believing or advocating this study or result (yet), but it seems interesting.
Being a curious follower of Freakonomics, I find this interesting, yet very unconvincing. Does good transit make you happier, or does this transit system happen to go through an area of happier people to start with? The worl may never know. I’m guessing the conclusion had been worked out before the study began. .
Without reading the report, I would say that the conclusion is reasonable based on my own experience. Residing in an area with good public transit removes a major stresser by minimizing the need to deal with traffic on the trip to and from work.
One point I didn’t see made is that transit gives you choices. Just having it available should you need it, is a stress reliever. This is just one of a few ways that transit has value to even those who don’t ride.
Interesting, both this study and the dissertation mentioned at the end. Without reading either, one cannot say how rigorous the methodologies were. The statement concerning the populations compared being similar in demographics and that some possible confounds were controlled for suggests that the study is probably pretty valid.
I don’t know about happiness. I suspect it could be shown that people in areas with good transit systems are econoically better off than people in areas without them.
They spent somewhere between $750 million and $1 billion on this project. I am sure I would be ‘happy’ with that much being spent in my town as well(as long as I do not have to pay for it). To be fair - I have used the ‘trolley’ to attend Vikings and Twins games($3.50 sure beats the parking charge near the stadium)…
On a happiness scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 is suicidal and 10 is nuts) I would rate my means of commuting as follows:
public transit: 5
car: 3
walking: 6
biking: 9 (except in the winter).
other (taxi, carpool etc. ) 3
I haven’t taken public transit in quite some time, but (from what I recall from my student days) it wasn’t particularly enjoyable or conducive to happiness.
Where I live now, the only form of public transit is a local city bus service with the nearest stop to my house almost a mile away, on an hourly schedule, only on weekdays and normal business hours.
Germany, and all of Europe, has a fantastic public transit system where one ticket can be used on streetcars, busses, the underground, and light rail systems. No location is further than 1/2 mile from one of those forms of transit, but here in the U.S. we have chosen private automobiles over public transit.
I totally agree with Cacole. I’ll give two examples, one in the San Carlos, CA where my son lives and one in Trieste, Italy where myself and my wife are retired. My son lives within “Walking distance” of “downtown” San Carlos just south of Frisco. The downtown consists of a grocery store, which is the only major business there, plus a bazillion restaurants, beauty parlors, and nail salons, but precious little else. Samtrans has a bus that goes up and down El Camino Real with a semi-frequent schedule, and another route that goes further into the burbs, but there is no other bus service anywhere. Of course Caltrian has a stop there, but it’s a 40 minute walk one way.
Being retired in Italy, our driver’s licenses expired 7 years ago, and we don’t own a car, so a rental in San Carlos is out of the question. Does anyone else use a baby buggy to bring groceries home? They can get really heavy, especially if you by liquids or anything in glass jars. My wife got sick there a few years ago, and the nearest doctor that we could find to treat her was in Redwood City. Not cool. Cabs are expensive and the drivers are clueless about directions, needing GPS to go further than the end of the block.
Where is live (northern New Jersey) many roads are crowded with high speed vehicles. Driving somewhere where you have never been and have to learn at 50 or 60 miles and hour is definitely conducive to unhappiness. And it can increase stress by a factor of 10 or so. Even when the roads are familiar (for example, when driving to work) there are always the people who cut you off with no warning or make other abrupt changes. When I ride a bus, especially a slow, crowded bus I do not have a sense of happiness coming over me. But neither does the thought run through my mind “I just wish so bad I were home and out of here.”
Unfortunately, even where I live, a place that has good transit by U. S. standards, there are many places where there is no transit so we are forced to drive whether we want to or not.
Good points John… public transit is a great thing, and much more environmentally friendly than driving. I don’t like commuting by car either. I bike to and from work… the perfect solution for me. I get to work, albeit a little sweaty sometimes, and I get my 90 minutes of exercise per day as well. Only bad part is that it doesn’t really work in January or February… in those months I drive.
We have to be careful comparing the availability and frequency of public transportation in the U.S. to that of Europe (or Japan, China, etc.). Population density per square mile is a key determinant. Some areas may never have “adequate” service for that reason.
Most of my adult life in the USA I owned a car, but still used public transportation when it made sense. In the Chicago and Boston areas, my commute was normally by car, but occassionally by bicycle, if the car was in the shop or the weather exeptionally beautiful, because public transporation would have involved some walking, a transfer, and indirect routing. But in both places, trips downtown from either office or aparment were by transit, using bus and rail or auto to station parking and rail. I found every trip on the CB&Q enjoyable, and most trips the same on the T’s present Red Line. When I moved to a Manhattan apartment, sold the car, depended 99% on public transit, and very occasionally rented a car. I thought Metro North generally excellent and the Transit Authority good.
Here in Jerusalem I appreciate generally good bus service and thoroughly enjoy the new light rail line any time it is convenient to use it. But still, when a freind offers a lift in his or her car, a take it to be sociable and have some quality time together.
There is one other important aspect if one can commute easily by public transport. In my company we usually went to a pub on Friday evenings just after work for a beer or two or a brandy. After one or two hours social talk those of us who could use public transport just entered a bus or tram whereas the others had to ring their wifes to come and pick them up - not necessarily to the liking of their spouses.
So some of those guys didn’t join us at these “Friday fives” and missed out. So I’d say from experience that those who attended had a happier start of the weekend.
I agree, because I ride our light rail Metrolink very often going places even to our Amtrak station downtown.
And I ride our Metrobus to work. I’d rather let the driver do the work and I can read or relax on my journey, instead of fighting traffic. It’s more economical too and friendly to the environment.