Global Warming Reports

Search • RSS Feed

Executive Summary

New England’s transportation system produces more carbon dioxide pollution – the leading contributor to global warming – than any other part of the region’s economy. Cars, SUVs and other light-duty vehicles are the leading polluters. If New England hopes to fulfill its commitments to reduce global warming pollution – and achieve the 80 percent reductions in emissions scientists believe will be necessary to stave off the worst impacts of global warming – we must reduce emissions from the transportation sector.

New England states that have made significant investments in transit are curbing emissions of global warming pollutants, using less gasoline, and enjoying a host of other benefits. Improving and expanding transit service in the region will play a vital role in addressing New England’s global warming and energy challenges.

New England transit systems reduce global warming pollution and save large amounts of oil.

• In 2005, transit use averted more than 1.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution in New England, equivalent to taking 310,000 cars off New England’s roads for a year. Increases in ridership on many New England transit services due to higher fuel prices mean that transit is likely to be delivering even greater benefits today.

• Transit also saved more than 240 million gallons of gasoline in New England in 2005, enough to fill more than 24,000 tanker trucks.
  

• States that have made a greater investment in transit services have reaped more global warming emission benefits. Massachusetts, which has the most extensive transit network in New England and invests far more in transit than any other New England state, accounted for about three-quarters of the emission reductions. New Hampshire, whose sparse transit network reflects a lack of state investment, and Vermont, the most rural state in the U.S., achieved no direct emission reductions from transit according to our analysis, although transit service does provide other important social and economic benefits.

• 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.

Bus service presents a more complex picture.

• Many bus services in New England deliver global warming emission reductions and energy savings, and the number of bus services that deliver those benefits is increasing as ridership rises. However, not all bus services “break even” on global warming emissions. Several New England transit agencies have taken innovative steps to reduce their global warming emissions and gasoline consumption – for example, by using cleaner alternative fuels instead of diesel, using smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles, and by using creative strategies to boost ridership. Other New England transit agencies should follow their lead. 

Transit service provides a host of other benefits to the public.

• Global warming emission reductions and energy savings are just two of many benefits provided by transit. Other benefits include:

• Mobility benefits: Transit provides a transportation lifeline for those who do not own or cannot drive a car. It also serves as a valuable source of backup transportation for many New Englanders who usually drive and will become increasingly important as the region’s population continues to age.
  

• Community benefits: 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 can even give a boost to tourism.

• Efficiency benefits: Transit 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. The availability of high-quality transit can also reduce the cost of owning, maintaining and fueling vehicles, saving consumers’ money.

• Various types of transit services are designed to provide different benefits, with some services more successful at providing basic mobility and others succeeding at “getting cars off the road.” The value of transit service to a community can only be evaluated by taking all benefits into account.

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.

• New England states should move aggressively to build important transit projects, many of which have been on the drawing board for years or decades. Among those projects are commuter rail service to southern New Hampshire, extension of Downeaster rail service in Maine and commuter rail service in Rhode Island, extensions of the MBTA Blue and Green lines and construction of the greater Boston Urban Ring, and creation of commuter rail service in central Connecticut.

• The region’s leaders should anticipate future needs and plan for projects that would enhance the efficiency of the region’s transit system, such as the greater Boston north-south rail link, as well as the Boston-Montreal and Boston-Maine high speed rail corridors.

• The region should work to boost transit ridership by improving existing transit services, learning from innovations made by transit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The region should invest in maintenance of the current system, as well as in simple innovations – such as real-time schedule information at transit stops, prioritization of transit vehicles at traffic signals, and on-board wireless Internet – that can encourage more riders to take transit, thus delivering additional global warming emission reductions and energy savings.

• Making the necessary investments in transit will require the region to rethink its transportation spending priorities. State and federal transportation budgets are facing increasing strain as gas tax revenues level off and transportation infrastructure needs increase. New England states should 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.