This Week in Passenger Transport
March 20, 2006
The U.S. could reduce its dependence on imported oil by more than 40 percent if Americans use public transportation at the same rate as Europeans, for roughly 10 percent of their daily travel needs, APTA President William W. Millar told Congressional staff at a March 8 briefing on Capitol Hill.
Millar was one of three speakers at the session, "Dependence on Oil: How Transit Can Help Americans Reduce Energy Consumption," by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a Washington-based think tank that promotes environmentally sustainable policies. He joined Mariia Zimmerman, vice president for policy at Reconnecting America and its Center for Transit-Oriented Development, and Winston Harrington, senior fellow at Resources for the Future, a think tank that studies natural resource and environmental issues.
EESI organized the event, showcasing ways that public transportation can promote energy independence, in response to President Bush's recent State of the Union address. In the Jan. 31 speech, the President stated that "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology."
The speakers used examples of public transportation successes in the Washington metropolitan region, an area familiar to Congressional staff, to highlight how transit can pull commuters out of their cars and increase mobility options within a community.
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