LaHood touts transit, bikes in final blog post

{mosads}”If you ask any CEO where they’d rather open up shop and hire … If you ask any parents where they’d rather raise a family … If you ask any young professional where they want to live and work—you hear the same things time and time again,” LaHood wrote.

“People want infrastructure that reduces congestion and protects the environment,” he continued. “They want high-speed trains that shuttle between cities and light rail systems that connect to jobs. They want bike paths, bike shares, buses, and streetcars that give them the option to leave the car at home.”

LaHood was asked about shifting the focus of transportation policy from cars to bikes and transit during an appearance at the National Press Club last week.

“I don’t know about fewer cars,” he said. “It seems like they’re selling a heck of a lot of cars these days.”

“The kind of vehicles that people drive, I believe, will change dramatically,” LaHood added then. “By 2025, every family in America will have some kind of hybrid. People want better gas mileage. Gasoline prices aren’t going down.”

In his blog post on Monday, LaHood forced on increases in public transit ridership.

“The proof is in the numbers,” he wrote. “People took a record 10.5 billion trips on public transportation in 2012. Amtrak ridership has grown more than 40 percent in the last ten years. Over 20 American cities now operate bike shares, and each program has been met with incredible popularity. New York’s new CitiBike bike share has sold nearly 52,000 memberships.

“This is what Americans want,” LaHood continued. “This is what the future of American transportation looks like.” 

However, he offered a caveat that “we know that people will continue to drive cars,” before touting the Obama administration’s requirement that automakers increase the gas mileage of their cars before 2025.