Politics of urban transportation innovation

Journal Article · Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1977 · Technol. Rev.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7304197

Altshuler, A

Urban transportation systems may be subject more to the politics of maintaining the system than to efforts for efficiency and better alternative modes of travel. Preserving existing social and behavioral patterns with minimal disruption can also lead to innovative problem solving. Government policies tend to focus on public investment and subsidy, although market decisions by individuals and corporations and regulatory decisions have also shaped urban travel. The 1950s building of the Interstate Highway System, for example, developed at the expense of mass transit as the assumption persisted that public and private systems should be self-sufficient. Legislation in the 1960s for local transit systems was passed with little subsidy in mind, yet assistance has increased rapidly over the years even as automobile travel has increased its share of urban travel. Studies show that an increase in transit spending would neither alter travel patterns, conserve energy, nor reduce air pollution. Increased subsidies, then, are explained as a way to meet social and political objectives without making any real change in behavior. Politically acceptable change strategies can be ranked in order of preference as those which (1) consumers accept voluntarily at a high-enough price to be self-sustaining; (2) introduce some sense of compulsion, but solve problems without much change in cost; (3) confer benefits at a high cost, which is either deferred or diffused; and (4) bring about drastic changes that are perceived to be imposed by public officials. (DCK)

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge
• OSTI ID: 7304197
• Journal Information: Technol. Rev.; (United States), Journal Name: Technol. Rev.; (United States) Vol. 79:6; ISSN TEREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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