Report: Transit Must Get Greener

NEW YORK CITY-A blue-ribbon commission is calling on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to reduce its carbon footprint and expand its reach in the coming decades, offering about 100 recommendations for doing so. The commission’s report says the MTA should draw 80% of its operating energy from renewable sources by 2050 and accommodate the daily transit needs of two-thirds of the four million new residents projected for the New York metro area by 2030.

One of those recommendations–a so-called “green card” that would fund sustainable capital and operating projects at the MTA through voluntary, tax-deductible contributions–has already been played up by the news media. “If we as a nation are to begin working seriously to prevent global warming, we need to radically rethink the way we fund mass transit,” says Jonathan F.P. Rose, chairman of the commission, in a release.

Founder of sustainable development firm Jonathan Rose Cos., Rose says the national discussion about public transit “needs to acknowledge, and put a value on, the enormous carbon avoidance that transit creates while providing mobility to keep our economy competitive. Funding levels for transit need to be commensurate with an enterprise that accomplishes both of these critical goals.”