Global Warming Solutions News

CONCORD, NH – Public transit use in New England reduced global warming pollution more than 1.7 million metric tons in 2005, equivalent to taking 310,000 cars off New England’s roads for the year, yet New Hampshire has so far failed to take advantage of these benefits, according to a new report, Cool Moves, released today by Environment New Hampshire and Clean Water Action. Train, bus and vanpool use in the region also saved 240 million gallons of increasingly expensive gasoline, in addition to reducing congestion, spurring smart growth, boosting mobility and developing local economies.

Transportation is the leading source of carbon dioxide in New England, accounting for 40 percent of the region’s carbon dioxide emissions. Cool Moves underscores the importance of transit in solving our state’s and region’s global warming and transportation woes. And with New Hampshire facing a transportation funding crisis, as well as rising traffic congestion and crumbling infrastructure, the report signals a critical opportunity now for leaders to invest in better planned projects that incorporate a 21st century transit system.

“When it comes to cutting global warming pollution in New Hampshire, there are huge potential reductions to be made in the transportation sector,” said Doug Bogen, NH program director for Clean Water Action. “Public transit’s a sensible, efficient and cost-effective way to capture those reductions.”

According to this new report from the New England Climate Coalition, states that invested the most in transit saw the largest reductions in global warming pollution and gasoline usage. Here in New Hampshire, our state invested only $4.4 million in transit in 2005, less than every other New England state, and saw no measurable transit-related global warming emissions reductions as a result.

“As the saying goes, you reap what you sow,” said Erika Staaf, advocate for Environment New Hampshire. “If our state is serious about tackling global warming, we need to invest more in transit.”

Commuter rail and other forms of rail transit (such as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s subway and light rail networks and the Amtrak intercity rail network) accounted for most of the emission reductions from transit use. Vanpool programs, in which transit agencies provide vans for groups of commuters who use them to travel to and from work, also provided significant emission reductions relative to the small number of New England commuters currently using the services. Emissions reductions across the region, in metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution included:

• 685,924 from commuter rail,
• 639,898 from heavy rail (subway),
• 241,200 from light rail,
• 132,093 from intercity rail (Amtrak),
• 25,188 from bus,
• 14,866 from vanpool, and
• 1,109 from trolleybus.

“Limiting our dependence on automobiles has to be the top transportation priority to reverse the upward trend of miles driven each year. The good and bad news is that we haven’t even scratched the surface of creating a comprehensive, convenient, and comfortable transit system,” said Bogen.

In addition to reducing global warming pollution, transit can help promote more compact land-use patterns that allow more trips to be taken on foot or via bike while consuming less land and reducing the cost of public services. Transit also enables the rest of the transportation system to work more efficiently, cutting down on traffic congestion that wastes time, wastes fuel and causes excess pollution.

“New Hampshire must start planning for, and funding, a more balanced transportation system that reduces traffic, curbs climate change and promotes vibrant, compact communities, “ said Tom Irwin, a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation.  “As in the case of the proposed I-93 widening, simply perpetuating reliance on cars is a poor investment of taxpayer dollars that will fuel more driving, more sprawl and more of the pollution that causes global warming.”

To address the region’s global warming and energy challenges, New England should invest in developing a 21st century transit system that provides convenient, affordable and comfortable transit service to more New Englanders. Our state leaders should:

• Move aggressively to build important transit projects, many of which have been on the drawing board for years or decades.  Among those projects is commuter rail service from southern New Hampshire to the greater Boston area.

• Anticipate future needs and plan for projects that would enhance the efficiency of the state and region’s transit system, such as the Boston-New Hampshire-Maine high speed rail corridor.

• Boost transit ridership by maintaining and improving existing transit services, learning from innovations made by other transit agencies, such as real-time schedule information at transit stops, prioritization of transit vehicles at traffic signals, and on-board wireless Internet, thus delivering additional global warming emission reductions and energy savings.

• Rethink its transportation spending priorities to increase the share of overall transportation funding devoted to transit, eliminate subsidies for automobile use, and develop funding mechanisms that both encourage the use of transportation alternatives and provide new revenues for improvement and expansion of transit.      
  

“If we take these sensible actions, our state will be en route to a more secure and reliable transportation system while getting on track to meet our global warming pollution reduction goals,” said Staaf.