Today’s public transit not the solution to oil usage

TO THE EDITOR:

Tim Freer’s column (“Investing in public transit is crucial,” Oct. 27) admirably calls attention to the pressing issue of the drain the automobile places on the world’s oil reserves. Public transit as it exists today, however, fails to address this problem. Although great strides have recently been made in the development of clean energy for use by the industry, the vast majority of vehicles in service with transit providers continues to burn gasoline.

Yes, increased ridership on public transport would decrease the rate at which the world’s oil reserves are depleted — but it would not halt their use. Freer’s “day oil is a rarity” would still be on the horizon. We cannot afford to continue our reliance on outdated technology that simply pushes that day farther into the future.

Freer favors forcing drivers off the road and into crowded, expensive, tax-supported public transit but fails to examine the alternative: vehicles that avoid oil altogether. Fully-electric cars are already offered by at least three mainstream manufacturers, and more are soon to be released. Natural gas powers everything from taxis to garbage trucks. Efforts are underway to design a small, efficient hydrogen fuel cell, eliminating reliance on oil and coal completely and utilizing one of the most abundant resources in the world — water.

Sergei Shubin
Freshman
Chemistry