Make driving a drag
What I am about to say will seem absolutely insane to a lot of people. We read every day about traffic problems getting worse in Miami and the ideas to ease it. I agree 100 percent that we need better rail and bus service, and this needs to be the No. 1 priority. But this will not help if we keep adding cars to the existing problem.
Everyone wants the other guy off the road so his drive will be better, but no one is willing to get off the road to help the other guy. We have to change this mindset and get more people on the trains and buses.
Improving public transportation will only work if people use it. As we improve these transportation modes, we must make them more attractive than driving our cars.
One way to do this is to make cars less attractive: Eliminate car lanes on the streets and make more “bus only” lanes, cut out parking areas and make them bus stops, cut transit prices and increase gas taxes to make up the difference in transit costs, and improve enforcement of all traffic laws.
As long as driving is attractive, more people will do it no matter what we do to mass transit. Increasing buses will not help if they are stuck in traffic behind cars.
David Anderson, Miami Beach
This story was originally published June 17, 2015 at 7:10 PM with the headline "Make driving a drag."