Page 7 - Sonoma County Gazette February 2020

LETTERS cont’d from page 6
In 2018 the subsidy for the train averaged about $1.48 per passenger mile, compared with $1.21 per mile for the ferry and Golden Gate Bus combined.
cars become more common. The critics of SMART fail to mention the possibility that SMART may shift to renewable biodiesel fuel or transition to other sources of power in the future.
The subsidies for driving are imbedded in numerous practices and laws, most notably the way that we include the cost of parking in rent, and public infrastructure. The attached article goes to great length to describe the legal favors afforded to driving.
Neither side has cited the significant amounts of harmful particulate pollution created by rubber tire and road dusts that the railroad avoids.
Tailpipe emissions and dust some of the elements affecting the large ecological footprint of residents in the North Bay. SMART and the bikeway can help by enabling residents (particularly younger and older people in Sonoma County) to reduce their dependence on automobiles in walkable communities with smaller apartments along the rail/bikeway corridor. Apartments with common walls use less energy for heating and cooling and contain far less embodied energy. They also contain fewer resource-consuming possessions than suburban single-family homes.
A 2017 Federal study stated that,
“In addition to helping to understand the rationale for subsidies, social costs and benefits may provide a better way of normalizing the magnitude
of subsidies. A strong case can be made that comparing the magnitude of the subsidies to the magnitude
of net social benefits, by mode, provides a better view of the relative subsidy than does normalizing
by a physical measure such as passengers or passenger-miles. We have not included analysis of the social costs and benefits of different transportation modes because of
the difficulty of providing a value
of these costs and benefits.” https:// www.bts.gov/archive/publications/ federal_subsidies_to_passenger_ transportation/full_social_costs_ and_benefits
Electric bikes are making it possible for people living 3-4 miles from a train station to commute by train if their workplace is also within easy cycling distance of a station. This
is a huge economic benefit in that many more people can conveniently seek employment in a much larger area than before, and employers can attract more workers up and down the corridor.
Because SMART has been operating for just over two years, we have only a glimpse of its future ridership, benefits, and costs. It’s in its infancy. Commuter ridership is rising and will probably increase with the Windsor and Larkspur extensions. It would be shortsighted to use a few statistics as the basis for deciding SMART’s fate.
The League of Women Voters and the Sonoma Gazette are co-sponsoring a candidates forum for the 5th District Supervisors position
Lynda Hopkins & Michael Hilber
The forum will be held February 12th from 6:30 – 8:00 pm at the Roseland Community Library, 779 Sebastopol Rd, Santa Rosa
Transportation is subsidized in many ways, and SMART’s critics try to show that operating subsidies for rail transportation is more costly
than buses or private automobiles. However, SMART staff points out that the differential is minor and likely
to diminish as train ridership grows.
Steve Birdlebough Sonoma County Land Use Coalition
MORE LETTERS & COMMENTS Online @ sonomacountygazette.com
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
575 Administration Drive, Room 100 A, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
(707) 565-2241
District 1: Susan Gorin - Susan.Gorin@sonoma-county.org District 2: David Rabbitt - David.Rabbitt@sonoma-county.org District 3: Shirlee Zane - Shirlee.Zane@sonoma-county.org District 3: James Gore - district4@sonoma-county.org
District 5: Lynda Hopkins - Lynda.Hopkins@sonoma-county.org
2/20 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 7