SGE Evening Seminar
How High Gasoline Prices Need To Go Into Order to Substantially Impact The Use and Construction of Public Transportation
Thursday, June 28, 2007 5:30-8:00 p.m.
Conference room 483, Congressional Budget Office
2nd & D Streets, SW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20515
(Metro: Federal Center SW Station)
Panel:
Ed Tennyson, Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of Transportation (ret.)
Ross Capon, Executive Director, National Association of Railroad Passengers
Clifford Winston, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Light refreshments served. The seminar is free, but please E-mail Melvyn Sacks at MelSacks@cavtel.net for reservations.
Gasoline prices are reaching a real all-time high in the U.S. with public transportation lagging significantly behind that of Western Europe in amount and quality, with very little high speed rail in the U.S., and most commuting to work made by automobile. Businesses and homes are widely dispersed, and our culture of cars, highways, and air travel ingrained and difficult to overcome. Global warming also presents challenges in reducing carbon in the air.
Tonight we will look at how elastic gasoline prices are to usage, and whether Americans would use quality public transportation if available. Would there be adequate funding for significant building of mass transit options? Are our political leaders up to the challenge?