Transit Week Tribulations in Hampton Roads

Transit Week is here.

Silence

Ride a bus, ferry or light rail to and from work.

Silence.

Do something besides driving your car or truck.

Silence

Does this mean anything to you?

Silence

Your silence is revealing.

Pause

Americans are addicted to their cars and trucks; American politicians are addicted to highway construction money. Americans will shun public transit until gas prices levitate again.

Public transit is a sidebar.

The real money isn't in public transit or will be in public transit.

The real money is controlled by the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission, a group of elected officials who supposedly represent the will of the people.

The will of the people is to drive cars and trucks. The will of the Commission is to pick which highways to construct so we can drive our cars and trucks.

Sometimes the will of politicians dominates the will of the people.

The politicians have created a monolithic organization trumpeting Vision Statements and Mission Statements.

This Commission, created by the politicians, will hire an executive director with a staff, find a corner office for he or she and give he or she the CEO and President title so he or she can plant this title on his or her Linkedin profile.

The politicians will create a budget to pay the salaries, pension and health insurance coverage of the executive director and the staff, as well as travel and meals and lodging expenses.

Hampton Roads – its politicians, its elected officials, its moneyed individuals – is afflicted by committees, commissions, bureaucracies and crackpot notions.

Public transit is a closed loop.

Transit Week, an initiative, launched six years ago by the Virginia's Dept. of Rail and Public Transportation, incites you to leave your car or truck behind and use public transit.

Join the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) and transportation partners from across the Commonwealth in celebrating the sixth statewide Try Transit Week from September 15-19, 2014! This is a great time to discover new alternatives to your commute and how to get around while saving time, money and energy.

It is a noble gesture. But it is a futile gesture.

Raise gas prices to $5.00 a gallon.

Now that is a gesture worth doing.