Our love affair with the car has dramatically shaped the American landscape. But along with personal mobility, we endure high gas prices, lengthy stop-and-go commutes, urban sprawl, smog and greenhouse emissions. In two sound-rich hours presented by award-winning documentary producer David Freudberg, listeners will learn the emerging role public transportation may play in alleviating these problems, now and in the future.


HOUR 1.
Segment 1: The story of a Virginia man who accepted his county's "challenge" to go car-free for a month; plus voices of motorists filling up at the pump; bus riders in a low-income neighborhood and others.
Segment 2: Business people and environmentalists come together: improved public transportation helps to grow the economy, for lots of reasons. Bankers and the Sierra Club on the same side. Also: why many young people are flocking to public transit.
A former Shell Oil executive recently told NPR he expects gas prices to top $5/gallon by the end of 2011. The last time oil prices spiked (2008), ridership on public transit surged all over the United States because commuting by car had become too costly. At the same time, a new wave of young people are now flocking to transit, many citing environmental reasons and a desire to read, write, listen and watch on portable technology -- instead of fighting traffic behind the wheel.

But transit faces an uphill battle. In many systems, the recession has inflicted both service reductions and fare increases. In Chicago, for example, nearly 20% of service was cut in 2010, yet ridership declined less than 1%. Many people depend on buses and trains. A third of us, including low-income and elderly Americans, lack access to a car. Will federal aid come to the rescue, or will transit be trimmed further in budgetary belt-tightening?


Note the final episode of this series, see Humankind: Passengers (Hour Two).

Our love affair with the car has dramatically shaped the American landscape. But along with personal mobility, we endure high gas prices, lengthy stop-and-go commutes, urban sprawl, smog and greenhouse emissions. In two sound-rich hours presented by award-winning documentary producer David Freudberg, listeners will learn the emerging role public transportation may play in alleviating these problems, now and in the future.


HOUR 1.
Segment 1: The story of a Virginia man who accepted his county's "challenge" to go car-free for a month; plus voices of motorists filling up at the pump; bus riders in a low-income neighborhood and others.
Segment 2: Business people and environmentalists come together: improved public transportation helps to grow the economy, for lots of reasons. Bankers and the Sierra Club on the same side. Also: why many young people are flocking to public transit.
A former Shell Oil executive recently told NPR he expects gas prices to top $5/gallon by the end of 2011. The last time oil prices spiked (2008), ridership on public transit surged all over the United States because commuting by car had become too costly. At the same time, a new wave of young people are now flocking to transit, many citing environmental reasons and a desire to read, write, listen and watch on portable technology -- instead of fighting traffic behind the wheel.

But transit faces an uphill battle. In many systems, the recession has inflicted both service reductions and fare increases. In Chicago, for example, nearly 20% of service was cut in 2010, yet ridership declined less than 1%. Many people depend on buses and trains. A third of us, including low-income and elderly Americans, lack access to a car. Will federal aid come to the rescue, or will transit be trimmed further in budgetary belt-tightening?


Note the final episode of this series, see Humankind: Passengers (Hour Two).