I was pretty upset yesterday, so I forgot to mention one thing: the 3% statistic for transit is based on Vehicle Miles Travelled. Not commuter trips (the ones that cause congestion), not the total number of trips, but of Vehicle Miles Travelled. I’m sure it is much higher because people who drive travel from farther away and even people who take transit might drive when they get home.
The goals of transit are not always at odds with the driver. Some of the goals of good transit are reducing the number of miles travelled because transit allows more density, reducing the number of commuter trips made in single occupancy passenger cars and reducing the cost of living by letting people live without cars. Frank over at Orphan Road discusses the hidden cost of highways in this context and Carless in Seattle discusses the major factual error in the piece.
Speaking of goals of transit, at times transit has shown to create and develop neighborhoods. Sometimes that can be worth it alone. Watch what will happen when the streetcar in the South Lake Union is built. Already the neighborhood has been transforming into another new fun, cool, place. I agree SLU needs a new name. I vote Allentown. Granted alot of the development is because of Paul, but I think when people see the streetcar connects downtown with the lake union businesses they will find it easier to go down to the lake.