Transportation Orientation

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on Thursday that the Car Allowance Rebate System. popularly known as the "cash for clunkers" program, will end tomorrow at 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time, in recognition of the $3 billion allotted for it about to run out. This will give dealers time to finalize the paperwork on deals handled so far, and announcing the end of the program four days in advance has allowed those interested in getting a $4500 government rebate for a more fuel-efficient vehicle to get in on it before the program ends.

The program has proven to be wildly successful, getting several old gas guzzlers off the road, resulting in a 60% increase in the fuel efficiency of the American private vehicle fleet, and it gave a big boost to automakers hurt by the recession. However, all has not been perfect - the bureaucratic red tape means that some dealers will have to wait awhile to get their money from the government.

And although it's gotten more people into a Ford Focus and out of a Ford Explorer, it's not enough. The next thing the Obama administration has to do is work toward more public transportation - not just modernized intercity rail (which is slowly getting traction; witness my blog entry on Bobby Jindal from late last week), but on commuter rail, streetcars, light rail with exclusive rights of way, and city buses, not to mention more transit-oriented development and retrofitting as much urban sprawl as possible to a transit-based transportation network. It won't be easy, but it could provide more jobs and boost the economy.

We can start with public buildings. Government rules dictate that post offices, for example, have to be built to accommodate cars without any meaningful requirements, if any, for pedestrian access. This is how the post office in my hometown was built; dedicated in 1975, the West Caldwell, New Jersey post office sits on the outskirts of town, off a county highway, with no sidewalk access and plenty of parking. (By contrast, the post office in neighboring Caldwell, built in 1934, is in walking distance of my house - ironic, you'll agree, since I don't live in Caldwell - and there's only parking for three vehicles on the street, with a fifteen-minute restriction.) Oregon House member Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat representing transit-friendly Portland, has sought to get these federal rules repealed, without success so far.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't mind seeing the cash-for-clunkers program continue a bit longer, and I say this as someone who's not in the market for a new car at this time.