November 23, 1970
Page 38492
ENLIGHTENED POSITION OF MOBIL OIL CO. ON MASS TRANSPORTATION
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, Mobil Oil Co. recently placed an advertisement in the New York Times which commented on the "highway construction boom" and the "mass transportation bust."
The sentiments expressed in this advertisement are not those that are expected of a company that profits from greater use of automobiles and highways. The enlightened position of the Mobil Oil Co. with respect to mass transportation may be a source of strength for those of us who are concerned with this problem and who plan to seek major changes in our Nation's transportation policies during the next session of Congress.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of the Mobil Oil Co. advertisement be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the advertisement was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
[From the New York Times, Oct, 19, 1970]
AMERICA HAS THE WORLD'S BEST HIGHWAYS AND THE WORLD'S WORST MASS TRANSIT
WE HOPE THIS AD MOVES PEOPLE
In recent years the United States has developed a really superb highway system. It's been built with tax revenues earmarked specifically for road building.
But the highway construction boom has been accompanied by a mass transit bust. Train and bus travel in this country, with few exceptions, is decrepit. The air traveler suffers increasing indignities despite bigger, faster planes.
Greater New York is a typical example. You can depend on commuting to and from Manhattan – but only to be undependable and slow. On public transport, the 25 miles to Westfield, N.J. takes 75 minutes at an average speed of 20 miles per hour. The 33 miles to Stamford, Conn. takes 60 minutes at 33 mph. The 26 miles to Hicksville, L.I. takes 55 minutes at 28 mph. When you're on time.
You have to be a stoic with stamina to use public ground transportation for a trip beyond the commuting range. Fly to a nearby city? You can hardly get at our congested air terminals, either by land or air. The ride to or from the airport often takes longer than the flight.
Mass transit seems to work better abroad. Americans are agreeably impressed by the fast, comfortable, and attractive subways in foreign cities. Intercity trains in other countries make ours look pitiful. Japan's highspeed Tokaido line carries more than 200,000 passengers a day. Clean, comfortable French, German, Italian, and British trains regularly attain speeds over 100 mph. European railroads are already planning or building expresses that will do better than 150 mph.
Yet, in the United States, new mass transit systems are for the most part still in the wild blue yonder.
Providing for our future transportation needs will require very large expenditures. We believe there's an urgent need for legislators to reexamine the procedures used to generate and expend transportation revenues. Such a review may yield the conclusion that special earmarked funds are no longer the best approach.
In weighing priorities, no decision-maker can ignore the increasing congestion on those fine highways of ours, especially in and around the great urban centers. But more and better mass transit could stop traffic jams before they start. Just one rail line has triple the people-moving capacity of a threelane superhighway.
It costs less – in energy consumption and in money – to move people via mass transit than on highways. Thus mass transit means less air pollution.
It also means conservation. Whether the energy comes from gasoline for cars, or fuel oil, natural gas, or coal for electric power plants, it's derived from a diminishing natural resource. So we think all forms of transportation should be brought into a national plan for safe, rapid, economical ways of moving people – consistent with the wisest use of our energy resources.
While Mobil sells fuels and lubricants, we don't believe the gasoline consumed by a car idling in a traffic jam (carrying a single passenger, probably) is the best possible use of America's limited petroleum resources. Our products ought to help more people get where they want to go.
To us, that means a green light for mass transit ... soon. – Mobil.