Single-occupancy vehicles are a crutch of modern society. Too many modern US cities were built with cars in mind, and it’s turned our cities into places for sitting in cars (in traffic), storing cars (in vast parking lots), and breathing car emissions. Automobile manufacturers and tech companies around the world are diligently working to electrify and robotize single-occupancy vehicles, but nothing they can do will cause a greater impact on the sustainability of our planet than an increased focus on using public transit.
Promoting demand for transit is a very efficient way to go. All forms of public transit are more efficient than single-occupancy vehicles. More important, transit agencies have to operate buses whether they’re full or empty. One person who stops driving – or just drives less – takes an entire car off the road, without much affecting the amount of transit required.
In order to promote better transit choices, thus increasing transit demand, we developed the TransitScreen display. It presents real-time transit information at any location, in (currently) the Greater Washington D.C. Area and the San Francisco Bay Area. Both of these regions have serious traffic issues (two of the longest commutes in the country, over 1 hour total per day), yet they also have an abundance of public transit options. Within those regions, residents of the central city typically understand the benefits of public transit, and half of them utilize transit daily or weekly.
But what about those residents who aren’t aware that using the public transit options by their home or work could save them time and money? What would it take to make them aware of their options? Many people are interested in living more sustainably, but most don’t have the time to change.
By providing comprehensive and ubiquitous information, TransitScreen helps lower the barrier to changing behavior. No longer are you faced with buses that wander vague routes at arbitrary intervals. In one glance, you can see where the closest buses are located, and where they go – demystifying those systems. You’ll even be able to see the frequency of bus service at different times of day. You can also see whether there’s a bicycle available at the nearest bike share dock, or whether a new dock has been installed in your neighborhood.
As a society, we’re not going to stop using single-occupancy vehicles. There’s too much demand created by the physical form of our sprawling cities. But there’s no reason we can't start changing transportation patterns now, influencing future development patterns so more choices exist and single-occupancy vehicles are less important. The ideal is for everyone to have a choice: if you need a personal vehicle to get to work, you might prefer public transit on the weekends. Or if your weekend plans rely on your car, take public transit to work. You may find out it saves you time. You may notice your stress level drop by not having to deal with the morning traffic jam. Or you may re-kindle your love or reading with the extra time you gain not having to focus all your attention on the road. In the end, that’s the definition of sustainability -- long-term well-being.