URBAN SOLUTIONS DON’T WORK FOR RURAL AMERICA Discussions around public transportation tend to evoke images of crowded subway cars, city buses, regional railroads, and instigate conversations on how we can transform these modes of transportation to make them not only more functional, but also more sustainable. In doing so, however, it is critical to note that what is true for urban American is not always true for rural America. For parts of the country that are significantly less dense and less urban, and where public transit is a viable option for far fewer people, there is a particularly heavy reliance on private vehicles. In taking all of this into consideration, the key question becomes -- How can we envision a Green New Deal for Transportation that addresses the unique needs and circumstances of rural America? The primary problems with transportation in urban areas revolve around high emissions levels, inequities in access to transportation, and a lack of reliability as it relates to the frequency, punctuality, and speed of public transit services. In rural areas, however, even getting around at all can be a real struggle for many citizens. Rural communities that exist far beyond the limits of any city are facing two key issues that are intimately intertwined: an
over-reliance on private internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and a serious lack of public transit alternatives. The combination of these two problems has left residents of sparsely populated and geographically spread out regions disproportionately exposed and vulnerable to a specific set of burdens that are different from those faced by urban dwellers. For many rural Americans, private vehicle dependence is part of a larger culture of independence. While ‘car culture’ is a phenomenon that pervades every corner of America, the state of affairs in many rural communities has left residents in those areas feeling as though “[their] car or [their] truck is [their] key to independence.”86 The activists and local officials who work on expanding public transit in these kinds of areas will tell you that convincing people to buy into their vision has been challenging to say the least. The way Bob Allen of the Transportation Justice Program in Oakland, CA sees it, much of the difficulty is attributable to the fact that the burdens of public transit are largely privatized and the benefits are socialized, while the opposite is true for private vehicles.87 Even in urban areas, it is certainly true that changing the perceptions and the experiences associated with public transit are a critical part of addressing the issue. The 29
