Traffic JAM !, originally uploaded by aapon

Besides the advantage of riding transit while intoxicated, there are many other advantages to public transportation over private transportation. One of the difficulties is how to sell the initial investment in transit to a skeptical crowd of Americans who see transportation policy as a binary zero-sum game. How to package transit in a way which would not only appease those of us who are pro-transit but those who just can’t live without their private transportation.
I don’t have a coherent slogan I could put forth to the Obama team, but one place to start is stressing the fact that every car you take off the street with mass transit becomes one less car you have to pass on the way to work. Making your pitch up with the iron-triangle of economics, sustainability and pure selfishness is the way to move the electorate over to a more evenly balanced transportation policy.