What it Would Take for a Truly Car-Free Day

Today is International Car-Free Day, a day in which motorists are asked to leave the car at home and find another way to work. Sounds good, but it is rather impractical. The problem with asking people to leave their car at home is that it implies that most commuters have a choice of transportation options to get to work. Unfortunately, in greater Philadelphia, as with most of the United States, that is simply not the case.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Interstate Defense Act, which created the Interstate Highway System. It was in that moment that we would set forth the transportation priorities of our nation. We have hardly looked back, and for the past sixty years did not see a problem with the decision. Then, in 2008, something unexpected happened, Americans drove less than the previous year. In every year since the invention of the automobile, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) increased, until 2008, when they declined. The decline can be attributed to a number of factors including a national recession undercutting the disposable income of the middle class, rising unemployment causing fewer people to need to commute daily, and the rise of gasoline prices to over $4.00 per gallon.

The drop in VMT could have long lasting implications on how we build our infrastructure, that is, if we allow it. Americans, for the first time in history made a collective statement that said, “I will leave the car at home.” What they did not say is “I no longer need my car.” The hard truth is that over the past sixty years we have invested heavily in and built an infrastructure that accommodates a single mode of travel: the private automobile. Who could blame us? We were enjoying a strong economy, rising disposable income, inexpensive gasoline, single family homes on half acre lots, and a federal highway program that provided seemingly endless money to build more roads. We never could imagine a day where gasoline become prohibitively expensive, our roads were congested day in and day out, and a single family home was worth less than the amount paid. Here we are, sixty years later. Gasoline is hovering near the $4.00 per gallon mark, daily congestion extends the morning and evening rush hours, our air quality is the worst it has ever been, our infrastructure is crumbling, and yet we still march forward using the plans of yesterday to build for tomorrow. How can we change this pattern? Can we truly rebuild America’s infrastructure, or will we simply repair? If we want a truly car-free day, we are going to need a dramatic change in priorities. Just as the horse and buggy made way for the automobile, the automobile will have to yield to new mobility choices.

Where does it all start? How do we begin to change sixty years of investment? It all starts locally, at least in Pennsylvania. Local land-use decisions dictate so much of what kind of infrastructure we require. The old way of doing it meant strict separation of land-uses, not allowing new construction of houses, office, and retail to be intertwined. The separation means that distance between zones can be lengthy often inaccessible by foot. Along with the separation of uses, the density of use was decreased, causing more land to be used for less people. Because of the separation, most people take their cars to travel between zones. For a car-free day to work, the separation of uses must be reconsidered and greater density must be implemented. Once municipal governments allow for communities to grow up, not out and to grow mixed, not separated, the region can rethink how these places are connected.

Just as the automobile allowed single use sprawling zones to be conveniently connected, transit is the convenient connection for dense, mixed use communities; traveling between these communities can be best accommodated with transit. Transit is most effective when connecting dense core communities, since the higher density of people creates an inherent demand for travel to other dense core communities along the transit lines. By encouraging our region’s employers to locate near transit stops, and encouraging our region’s commuters to live near transit stops, when a person needs to leave their neighborhood, their destination will be served by transit. If this sounds like an unachievable dream society, we need only look to our past, pre-automobile, to realize it works. The famous Mainline provided this type of connectivity for employees living in the suburbs yet working in the city. Many of our region’s communities were once served by trolleys, allowing for localized mobility and providing connections to the greater system. These were all in place, and used heavily until the automobile became the primary mode of transportation.

The concept of choice over mandate was the principle that founded our nation. Americans are beginning to recognize that the automobile has gone from being a choice to being a mandate. The dream of mobility and freedom is no manifested by the automobile anymore. Realigning our priorities to reflect this change will take time, and will be met with challenge. The future of mobility in America will not eliminate the automobile completely, but rather make it one option in a field of many choices. That is how we can achieve a truly car-free day.

Posted in: biking,bus,local,pedestrian,policy,Shayne Trimbell,train,transit