Public vs. Private Transportation

Photo by David Dibert

When people need to travel between point A and point B, they consider speed, safety, and efficiency. For the last century, cars and other forms of private transportation have dominated the market and ways of thinking about travel. Cities have been designed with the driver in mind, prioritizing large highways and roads. However, the research and data show the foolishness of such devotion. Public transportation beats out private transportation across the board. By being incredibly safer, healthier for the environment and people, and also more efficient overall, public transportation dominates private transportation as the favorable choice.

Overwhelmingly public transportation ranks higher in safety measures than private transportation. Every year, about 1.3 million people die in car accidents around the world, which averages to 3,287 deaths per day (Beltz). Between 2000 and 2009 in the United States cars caused 7.3 deaths per billion passenger-miles, far exceeding other forms of transportation (Lu). According to the National Safety Council, roughly 10 million car collisions happen each year, with two million drivers and passengers suffering serious injuries (“Law Offices of Gary Martin and Hays and Associates”). Insurance companies prepare for the average driver to have a car wreck once every 17.9 years, making accidents almost inevitable for car users (“Law Offices of Gary Martin and Hays and Associates”). With statistics like these, it becomes obvious the dangers cars cause and the lives cars put at risk.

Luckily, we have alternatives to the private death machine of a car. Universally, a person can reduce their risk of an accident 90% by taking public transportation rather than using a car (“Public Transportation Facts”). Comparing the different modes of transportation, over the last 10 years, the car death rate per 100,000,000 passenger miles exceeded 9 times higher than for buses, 17 times higher than for passenger trains, and 1,606 times higher than for scheduled airlines (“Death by Transportation Mode”). Public transportation accidents do occur however much less frequently and less deadly. While cars caused 7.3 deaths per billion passenger miles, trains only caused 0.43 (Lu). And the accidents that do happen by train heftily still involve cars, such as the 5,800 train-car crashes that occur each year in the United States (“What are the Chances of Statistics of Being in a Train Crash''). The 891 train deaths in the United States in 2013 resulted in only six passengers dying, with the rest due to drivers or negligent pedestrians (Lu). Of all transportation related deaths in the United States in 2016, train accidents resulted in 249 of those deaths and buses only 40 (“Is Public Transportation Safer Than Driving?”). The year 2006 had more than 4.3 million passenger car crashes in the United States, in comparison to the 51,554 by bus, and the even fewer 11,000 by rail (Herman & Herman, P.L.L.C). Overall, the risks associated with traveling by car or even truck exceed 60 times that of traveling by public transportation on a bus (Herman & Herman, P.L.L.C). Even though accidents happen, public transportation proves itself considerably safer than cars across the board.

Not only do cars put people in harm, they also greatly harm the environment. Out of the total environmental impact of cars, fuel consumption and emissions of air pollution and greenhouse gasses take up 80-90% (The World Counts). Because of their combustion engine that burns fuel for energy, most cars produce harmful chemicals like carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter, while also requiring toxic liquids to function (Reference Staff Writer). By itself particulate matter causes 30,000 prematures deaths every year (The World Counts). Directly from the tailpipe and into humans’s lungs, cars cause up to 33% of all of the United States’s air pollution (wzb5002). Cars also require natural resources like steel, rubber, glass, plastics, and paints to create and fossil fuels to function, and with 67 million cars produced a year (and 92 million vehicles altogether) the extraction of these resources has a large impact on the environment (National Geographic Staff; The World Counts). The uprooting of fossil fuels causes land degradation, water pollution, and atmospheric pollution, as well as occasional environmental disasters such as oil spills (Nwokike; National Geographic Staff). When choosing a mode of transportation, we cannot ignore the grave impact cars have on the environment and how our actions today affect people’s health.

However, thankfully, public transportation cuts down on the environmental impact of transportation. Overall, transportation amounts to the highest percentage of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States at 29%, with the vast majority coming from passenger cars, medium- and heavy-duty trucks, and light-duty trucks (EPA). However, taking public transportation cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions immensely. Professionals estimate that in the United States alone, public transportation can reduce carbon emissions by around 37 million tonnes per year overall, while the individual who switches from a car to public transportation can reduce their carbon footprint by up to 30% (Greentumble). Just one person switching from a 20-mile commute by car to existing public transportation would reduce their annual CO2 emissions by 20 pounds per day, or more than 48,000 pounds in a year (“Environmental Benefits of Public Transportation”). Logically, the more people who take public transportation will lessen the amount of cars on the road, greatly reducing the harmful environmental impact (Rinkesh). With less car use, public transportation reduces the amount of gasoline consumption, saving the United States the equivalent of 42 billion gallons of gasoline annually, and more than 11 million gallons of gasoline per day (“Environmental Benefits of Public Transportation”). Public transportation proves itself to have a drastically lower negative impact on the environment than private transportation.

As cars harm the environment and people continue to use them, they prove themselves completely inefficient. Immediately after the first 365 days since purchase, a car’s value drops 20-30% (B). When it comes to both used and new cars, generally they lose 60% or more of their total value within five years (B). In the United Kingdom, research shows that cars lose on average £46.50 of their value weekly, totally in about a 45% loss in three years (Osbourne). Statistics show that for 96% of a car's life it sits idle and depreciating (Moss). Idle cars require parking lots which take up heaps of land with estimates of over 30,000 square kilometers of land devoted to parking in Europe and 27,000 square kilometers in the United States (Inci). Not only do cars immediately decrease in value, they rob drivers and passengers of their precious time. In the cities in the United States with the worst congested roads, drivers have spent over five days in traffic in New York City, and over four days in Los Angeles, Miami, and Baton Rouge in 2021 (Stoddard). Globally, however, car users will sit in even worse traffic such as the 142 hours in Istanbul, Turkey, the 140 hours in Moscow, Russia, and the 128 hours in Kyiv, Ukraine all in 2021 (Stoddard). From their depletion in value and the time they steal from drivers, cars remain an ineffective option of transportation.

In contrast, public transportation outranks private transportation in benefit and efficiency.

Naturally, with more people taking public transportation, the roads become less congested, saving 865 million hours in travel time in 2011 in the United States (Greentumble; “Environmental Benefits of Public Transportation”). Public transportation does not only save time but also money. By using public transportation and living with one less car, a single household could save about $10,000 (“Public Transportation Facts”). For the greater community, every dollar invested in public transportation yields around $4 in economic gains, which supports the workforce, fostering business clusters, and attracting tourists (“8 Benefits of Public Transportation”). Studies show that a high investment in public transportation can lead to $3.7 billion in growth in GDP over a 20-year period, stimulating economies, businesses, and creating jobs (Kirk). Over 87% of all trips on public transportation have a direct impact on local economies (“Public Transportation Facts”). Due to its efficiency, public transportation helps travelers save time and money, while investing back into the community.

With the overwhelming statistics and results surrounding the dangers of cars, their environmental impact, and their inefficiency, one begins to wonder how they have stayed so popular. By looking at the numbers, it becomes obvious the superiority of public transportation, which is boundlessly safer, greener, and more efficient. When comparing private and public transportation, the truth becomes clear without a doubt: public transportation outweighs private transportation every time.

Works Cited

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