Travel
Information Bulletin
July 2002
Public
Transportation Partnership for Tomorrow
….. A National Campaign!
A
research by the Transit Cooperative Research Program that covered all regions of
the country found that public opinion ranked four themes the strongest – freedom/mobility,
access, opportunity and choice – in describing why public
transit is important. From these
themes the message of community benefit based on personal opportunity was
developed. It was also determined
that if public transportation is going to continue to play an important role in
helping increase mobility, reduce congestion and improve quality of life,
private citizens and elected officials need to better understand how public
transportation benefits everyone and builds stronger communities.
The
Public Transportation for Tomorrow (PT)2 – the first ever national initiative
to build support for public transportation – went public in January with the
message: Public
Transportation enriches communities by enabling people from all walks of life to
have choices and access opportunities that allow them to grow, develop, and accomplish.
The
(PT)2 – “Public Transportation: Wherever Life Takes You” campaign
is now a nationwide education and outreach initiative designed to strengthen
support for public transportation among the public and local, state and federal
officials in order to positively impact public transportation issues and
funding. According to APTA
President William A. Millar, “….by helping the American public to appreciate
the full value and broad range of advantages, (PT)2 partners hope to build
broad-based support for increased investment and pro-public transportation
policies.” Mr. Millar also points
out that “while transit clearly benefits those who use it, even larger
benefits accrue to all citizens in the form of economic development, reduced
congestion, more livable communities and cleaner air”.
Current
effort on (PT)2 focuses on advertising and public relations activities, with
extensive work also underway in the area of advocacy and coalition building –
mobilizing coalitions locally, as well as collaborating with important interest
groups at the national level.
For
further details of this article please see Association for Commuter
Transportation’s TDM Review Issue 1 - 2002.
For more information or to find out about becoming a (PT)2 member please
visit the new website at: www.publictransportation.org
As
always, for more information and for any of your commute needs, please
call Westchester’s SMART COMMUTE Program at (914) 995-4444, or e-mail us
at tvo1@westchestergov.com
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