7/05/00 10:00 a.m.
Al's Way or the Highway?
Gore's "Keep America Moving" initiative will keep wasting money on mass transit.

Jonathan H. Adler, frequent contributor to NRO, rides the subway to work.

aving abandoned his call for higher gasoline prices, Vice President Al Gore has another idea to get people out of their cars: Spend billions on mass transit — $25 billion to be exact. Last week, Gore unveiled his "Keep America Moving" initiative, which will spend $25 billion on upgrading and improving mass-transit systems nationwide. According to Gore's self-proclaimed "new way of thinking" all that's necessary to reduce traffic congestion is to "give people a choice."

The federal government's been trying to "give people a choice" for decades to little effect. Portions of the federal gasoline tax are already siphoned off to support urban bus and rail systems. Despite years of subsidies, few urban-transit systems run in the black. They don't do much to reduce congestion either. No matter the amount of taxpayer dollars shoveled at planned transit systems, Americans prefer the autonomy offered by their automobiles.

The vice president praised the Portland, Oregon light-rail system as an example of how good mass transit can be. He's not alone. Portland's "Metro" is all the rage in "smart growth" circles. Yet Portland's experience is more cautionary tale than exemplary model. Research by Randall O'Toole of the Thoreau Institute and the Cascade Policy Institute — both based in Oregon — demonstrate that Portland's Metro has been a multi-million-dollar mistake. According to Metro's own figures, the light-rail system is doing little to reduce congestion, as most of its riders used to ride the bus. Those riders that do come off the roads, come at an incredible price: $62 per round trip. Even with Uncle Sam picking up over half of the tap, that's no bargain. Road improvements and expansion would do far more to reduce congestion at a fraction of the cost, but they wouldn't attract the same volume of federal funds.

There are policies to reduce congestion other than building and improving roads, to reduce congestion, but they aren't to be found in the nation's Capitol. Indeed, the reliance upon federal highway funds — paid for with federal gas taxes — is a large part of the problem. Local regulations against private bus- and van-pool services discourage market-driven mass transit, political resistance to congestion pricing, and labor rules that inhibit independent contracting and telecommuting also play their share. If the vice president wants to keep America moving, he should think about moving transportation policy outside of Washington, D.C.