Environmentalist discovers public transit!

Bill McKibben, noted environmentalist, writer, and founder of the Step-it-Up campaign against global climate disruption, has stumbled upon public transportation and embraced the Kheel Plan. Welcome aboard, Bill!

In Kheel’s report, the city would raise taxi fares by 25 percent, with all extra money going to support public transit. With less congested streets, the analysis calculates, the average cabbie would make 37 runs a shift instead of 31. Transaction-free bus rides could result in a 20 percent reduction of route time, leading to an effective 25 percent growth of each fleet because drivers could make more runs per shift. The city would also triple the price of streetside parking in Manhattan south of 96th Street, making it about the same as the private parking garages. “There are parts of the city where a quarter or more of drivers are simply looking for a parking spot,” says Komanoff. [from Bill's article in Plenty magazine.]