Transportation Issues in the Joplin Missouri Area and Their Effects Upon the Rural Population it Serves David Adams Western New Mexico University Identified in this paper is the social issue of public transportation within the Joplin, Missouri area. The effects of this issue span gender, Joplin, Missouri is at the intersection of two of the busiest intersections in all of Missouri, I44 and Highway 71. Although this center for commerce is busy and growing, in many ways it still acts like the small town it got it beginnings from. According to the city’s website and the 2010 Census pole, the population of Joplin is approximately 50,175 and growing to an estimated 50,789, with the poverty rate of 19%, versus the state as a whole …show more content…
Public transportation provides numerous positive attributes to the community at large. It enhances personal opportunities by providing personal mobility and freedom, gives people transportation options to get to work, go to school, visit friends, or go to a doctor’s office, provides access to job opportunities. It saves fuel and reduces congestion, provides economic opportunities and drives community growth and revitalization. Statistically, every $1 invested in public transportation generates approximately $4 in economic returns, every $10 million in capital investment in public transportation yields $30 million in increased business sales, every $10 million in operating investment yields $32 million in increased business sales, and from 2006-2011, residential property values performed 42 percent better on average if they were located near public transportation with high-frequency service. Public transportation saves money and reduces gasoline consumption. According to APTA’s transit saving report, a two-person household can save, on the average, more than $10,174 a year by downsizing to one car. Public transportation use in the United States saves 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline annually and households near public transit drive an average of 4,400 fewer miles than households with no access to public transit. Public transportation also reduces the carbon footprint in that its use
Three quarters of emissions in 2004 were coming from road traffic (Woodcock, p.1930, 2009). Emissions used from transportation are forecasted to increase from the year 2007-2030 by about 80% according to studies done by James Woodcock who is currently studying climate change and health from car fuels (Woodcock, p.1930, 2009). This is due to the fact that the emissions from vehicles are increasing significantly and are higher than any other energy fragment (Woodcock, p.1930, 2009). The only way to lower this percentage is to decrease the number of individual automobiles on the road and increase the number of public transit systems, starting long distance walking to work or school, carpooling or even biking to destinations. These principles would
Car dependency is one of the most important problems in the United States. Owning a personal car is mandatory in most small towns. All roads are designed for cars without pedestrian ways, and so much of the land is reserved for parking lots. Pedestrian-friendly cities’ rates are really low when it is compared with car-friendly ones.
Toronto must further improve its public transit system. Firstly, improving transit reduces commute time as well as the amount of cars that are on the road. Secondly, people depend on public transit so an improvement would be a great convenience for many people. Lastly, the improvement of public transit will create less pollution in Toronto.
Fifty cents of the gasoline tax dollar increase will go towards making the public transit system more feasible to people. This includes more bus stop locations, more arrival and departure times, more accessible train and airplane facilities, and increased safety precautions. Cheaper fares would also be a good means to increase the use of public transportation. In Huntsville, Alabama where the town is trying to have an efficient city system and is doing well at it, the tourist trolley fare is one dollar per trip and two
In general, everyone needs to go to places everyday whether it is work, visiting a family member, or just touring around interesting places. In order to go to these places, a person needs money. Public transportation costs a lot. Some people won’t be able
Transportation in the region has a long and successful past. However, public transportation has consistently taken a back seat to the personal automobile. There has been a strong core of persons who rely on public transportation to achieve mobility, and governmental
In urban cities, access to public transportation can mean access to better schools and higher paying jobs. However, this sort of housing can be costly for many families so research would look into Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and usefulness of this to created more affordable housing. Sources would include academic articles on TOD, studies on affordable housing, and research into the effectiveness of projects that have done this combination.
New York City has unique benefits in that there are tremendous amounts of people who live within close proximity to each other. This has resulted in higher uses of mass transit systems (such as: subways and buses). On average, New York’s total environmental footprint is 7.1 metrics tons per person annually. This is much lower than national average of 24.5 metric tons. The city contributes 1% of the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere for the United States each year. (“Inventory Greenhouse of New York City,” 2007) (Jarvey, 2006)
The money goes towards building an efficient mass transit system that gives about 4 million rides a day, and it makes car buyers think twice before purchasing a vehicle that is going to cost them a fortune (Source B). Although the idea of using the money to build a mass transit system seems controversial to reducing air pollution, mass transportation, such as Singapore’s, actually emits about 62 percent less pollution per passenger mile compared to a single operating vehicle, according to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). If the U.S. government were to carry out a policy similar to this, the amount of pollution emitted by roadside transportation would drastically decrease due to the limited access of cheap vehicles and unlimited access of mass transportation.(does this work?). The positive effects of green policies have already been seen in the U.S. through the Clean Air Acts of 1970 and 1990, which were set to control pollution and are upheld by the EPA and the White House Administration, . This act
Transportation is an everyday occurrence in today’s society; it takes you where you need to in a timely manner. In the article “The Bus, a Modern Panacea” by Lester Detroit, he explains that taking the VTA is a “cure-all” solution. Detroit notes that the VTA is convenient because students do not have to drive around to find parking space. He revels that students can save money with the free Echo Pass that is provided with registered SJSU students. He also notes that taking the VTA helps with the environmental problems because it solves traffic congestion, rising oil consumption, and carbon pollution.
The effect of the built environment on transportation and travel behavior is confirmed by more than 200 empirical studies. This literature is summarized in recent reviews by Cao et al. (2009), Heath et al. (2006), Pont et al. (2009), Graham-Rowe et al. (2011), and Salon et al. (2012), and in meta-analyses by Leck (2006) and Ewing and Cervero (2010). If sprawl has any consistently recognized outcome, it is automobile dependence. I would expect to find that, after controlling for other relevant influences, compact urbanized areas have relatively high transit and walking commute mode shares and short drive times to
On average, an American commuter spends around 30 hours per week sitting in traffic going to and from the job that they may or may not love. Commuters in some cities like Washington DC, that is both near and dear to our hearts, can spend roughly 60 hours per week stuck in traffic. Not only is time wasted wasted while commuting, but the gas that we constantly fill our cars up with may as well be flushed down the drain. Following the gas that is going down this metaphorical drain here, is a ridiculous amount of money from an innocent commuter’s wallet. Additionally, time wasted while commuting could’ve been time well spent with one’s family or even with one’s pets. The
The convenience of living in an urban or suburban neighborhood can be appealing to many people. Choosing between areas can sometimes be overwhelming for some individual. People are not only concerned about the safety of a community, but they are also concerned about the environment. Although some neighborhoods might look attractive, people should consider the expense that comes with it, and how commuting will affect them in the long run. Nevertheless, both neighborhoods have their specific advantages and disadvantages. When choosing between an urban or suburban neighborhood, it is important for people to research the community, the expense, and convenience
Public transportation is serious need of a massive overhaul in this nation. We are in desperate need to catch up to the European standard of public transportation in this country. In Europe, citizens can travel across cities, bodies of water, and even counties with their state of the art public transportation system. Europeans are not nearly as reliant on cars and oil as the United States is because they have the much more practical option of taking the transportation provided to them by the government to where ever they need to go. They have set a model that the United States needs to strive for and meet in the near future.
Public transportation can help reduce stress caused by driving, save money, and also protect our environment by reducing the number of vehicles on the road. In order to get more people off the road and into the public transportation system we must increase the number of buses and taxis that are available. We must also increase the number of stops available for daily bus routes. With more stops on the map more people are likely to use the bus system. Each city or town will be able to decide where more bus stops are needed and make the adjustments necessary to provide better service for the taxpaying citizens. Of course, none of this is possible without adequate funds in each town/city and the gas tax is guaranteed to provide those funds. Providing more public transportation will help us reach our ultimate goal of protecting the environment and ourselves.