But how far will we go to accommodate these vehicles that harm our environment? The average passenger vehicle will exhaust about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide in one year (equaling the weight of a standard-sized ambulance), according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas emitted by cars, but smaller amounts of methane and nitrogen oxide are also released into the atmosphere and contribute to the warming of the Earth’s climate.
One solution — sometimes not appealing but available to many — is public transit. Compared to the pound of carbon dioxide per passenger mile produced by private transport, the U.S. Department of Transportation calculated that bus transit produces an average of 0.64 pounds of CO2 per passenger mile, and an average of 33 percent less greenhouse gases than cars.
Despite the environmental perks of public transit, the public is not yet sold on the concepts of bus stops far from their initial location, paying for each ride, and having to ride with other passengers.
For the past 23 years, Knoxville Area Transit Director of Planning and Public Information Belinda Woodiel-Brill has organized the best transit routes to serve the most people in Knoxville while also encouraging ridership to promote a more environmentally friendly means of transportation in the city.
“We are painfully aware of the very un-level playing field that is transportation in the United States. It is 90-percent car focused. It is not about moving people. It is about moving cars and it is about moving trucks,” Woodiel-Brill said.
Interstate highway and road systems and an emphasis on individual transportation and freight transport have kept a focus on private transit, which in turn has shifted interest away from the benefits that buses and other means of public transportation provide to the public — and the atmosphere we all share.
Many elements factor into whether people will use public transit, despite its obvious benefits.
Small, seemingly insignificant factors, like the location of sidewalks and grocery stores, are major planning points for Woodiel-Brill when evaluating where route service is most needed. One of the biggest challenges in transit is determining how much coverage buses can provide with limited funding and resources while still encouraging ridership. KAT has been faced with a balancing act in deciding service areas. KAT can reduce miles on one route and switch them to another, but that might leave the public without transportation in some areas.
“Transportation (costs) can be 25 percent of household income on average in East Tennessee, and obviously that is higher when you are looking at low-income households,” Woodiel-Brill said.
Woodiel-Brill evaluates potential routes on factors that include population density, how accessible road networks are, and the distance of bus stops from highly populated areas. Neighborhoods built on hillsides with narrow roads and limited sidewalks pose a challenge for bus routes.
“There is no concerted effort to think about anything besides driving their own car when developments like that happen,” she said.
KAT prioritizes routes in the most-visited places by the public in the city rather than the county. Subsequently, far-flung places like Turkey Creek and Halls are considered areas without need of “good service,” while areas such as Market Square and the city center require concentrated and frequent service.
Poor city air quality has on occasion prompted KAT to offer periodic incentives to the public to increase ridership.
KAT has received grant funding to make fares free for passengers to reduce local vehicle emissions when air quality is especially bad.
Woodiel-Brill said ridership increased on free-fare days, and that provided the transportation agency with a correlation between personal transit and those who chose to take advantage of free transportation.
“In our work, we try to be as useful to people as we can. We want people to see it as an option,” she said.
With technology innovations and an increased transportation demand, Knoxville Area Transit has been working on a new project called the Comprehensive Operational Analysis.
“We have automatic passenger counters on buses, and we are putting them on all routes to see where people are getting on, where people are getting off,” Woodiel-Brill said.
KAT is also distributing passenger surveys to determine where a passenger boards a bus compared to where the passenger came from. This information will allow Woodiel-Brill to determine the areas in most need of public transit and guide her in planning future bus routes in the city.
In another nod to the importance of public transit agencies in reducing local and regional air pollution, KAT is testing electric buses that will reduce the carbon footprint of public transit. KAT will put more electric buses into service in 2022.
Public transit can be unappealing to those who have their own means of transportation, but new technologies will tempt the public with accessibility. To move from the outdated practices of cash fares, KAT is developing a mobile app that will offer real-time bus tracking and online payment options.
She hopes passengers will embrace the modernization and convenience of the improved public transit systems to reduce individual vehicle trips.
“Technology will help people see that using public transit is much better for the environment than taking an Uber or driving yourself,” Woodiel-Brill said.