Green Party Platform:
Transportation
The Green Party supports a transportation policy that emphasizes the use of mass transit and alternatives to the automobile and truck for transport.
We need ecologically sound forms of transportation that minimize pollution and maximize energy efficiency. California is responsible for 1/20th of the global greenhouse gas problem. The automobile contributes a significant portion of this--the number of cars in California is increasing at twice our human population growth rate. Surfaces impermeable to rainwater; polluted storm run-off; paved over or polluted wetlands; the heat island effect; air pollution; and acid rain are all directly related to a transportation system run amuck.
Massive subsidies to the auto and fossil fuel industries, as well as an unworkable approach by urban planners, maintain the auto's dominance of our cityscapes. The present-day approach of upgrading streets to accommodate increased traffic generates new traffic because access is now easier, and people will now take jobs further from their homes or purchase homes further form their jobs. Some people shift from public transit to private cars due to the trip time in cars being shorter. As patronage for public transit decreases, this transit loses funding, becomes less viable, and service deteriorates thus encouraging even more people to use their cars.
To counteract these trends and reduce auto use, the Green Party advocates the following strategies:
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Pedestrians and Bicyclists
- Make streets, neighborhoods and commercial districts more pedestrian friendly.
- Increase the greenery of streets.
- Utilize traffic-calming methods, where the design of streets promotes safe speeds and safe interaction with pedestrians. Create auto-free zones.
- Develop extensive networks of bicycle lanes and paths.
- Include bike racks on all public transit.
- Maintain free community bicycle fleets, and provide necessary support for cyclists.
Mass Transit
- Redirect resources that currently go to enhancing auto capacity into expanding human-scale transit options.
- Develop affordable mass transit systems--they should be more economical to use than private vehicles.
- Encourage employer subsidies of transit commuter tickets for employees, funded by government Congestion Management grants.
- Use existing auto infrastructure for transit expansion where possible. Light rail could be established in expressway medians through metropolitan high density corridors.
- Include land use decisions in transportation issues, such as the need for mass transit to have a market and be viable, and cross-commuting--the practice of people commuting to a place where they could and should live. [see the Urban Land Use plank]
Autos
- Place a moratorium on highway widening and use the money for mass transit and facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists.
- Mandate HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes on freeways, and lower toll fees for carpools.
- Discourage unnecessary auto use by eliminating free parking in no-residential areas well served by mass transit, and establish preferential parking rates for HOV.
- Substantially increase the taxes on gasoline, but allow some compensation for low income drivers. [see the True Cost Pricing plank]
- Legislate a "gas guzzler" tax on new vehicles that get a lower mpg than the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards and offer "gas sipper" rebates for vehicles that get a higher mpg.
- Schedule an increase in CAFE standards to 60 mpg for cars and 45 mpg for light trucks by the year 2002.
- Develop and market to the general public fuel efficient cars as well as solar, electric and other non-fossil fuel powered vehicles for local travel.
Air Travel
- Make Airports accessible by local transit systems.
- Legislate further incremental reductions in airplane noise and air pollution.
- Eliminate the practice of dumping excess fuel during flight.
- Emphasize the use of light and heavy rail for freight transportation.