Transit Gloria

I’ve only been in Manhattan for a few months, but the subway has really grown on me. In that, it seems, I am not alone.

The American Public Transportation Association reports that, between July and September, ridership of subways, buses, commuter rail, and light-rail increased by 6.5 percent. The spike in oil prices surely had something to do with it, says APTA president, William Millar, but “many have since found it works for them.”

This is probably not the end, nor the beginning of the end, nor even the beginning of the beginning of the end of Americans’ famous love affair with the automobile. But perhaps we’re seeing the first stirrings of a new and complementary love.