From: "Friends of Transit NEWS" To: Subject: CITIES NEED MASS TRANSPORTATION TO PROSPER Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 10:11 PM CITIES NEED MASS TRANSPORTATION TO PROSPER Americans' growing desire to work near where they live is no accident. Across the country in major cities and suburban agglomerations alike, traffic congestion takes an increasing toll on harried lifestyles-the average citizen spends 36 hours a year stuck in traffic, triple the time wasted in 1982. Car commutes are longer too, especially in the large metro areas, as roadways strangle in ever lengthening rush hours. A commuter whose daily round trip to work is 90 minutes spends 15 full days annually in a car just to get back and forth. Markets served with mass transportation alternatives and attractive close-in neighborhoods should be positioned to sustain better long-term prospects as people strive to make their lives more convenient. Building roads and spaghetti junctions won't handle future growth alone and will only raise already unacceptable air pollution levels. That's why Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Denver, and other car towns have put in or are building modest light rail systems. Atlanta's downtown would be destitute without MARTA. Expanding these systems to serve more people will be a challenge, however. The cost of building light rail, let alone subways, can be prohibitive, especially in areas that have been developed already. In agglomerations with dispersed urban nodes "it's harder to make a serious dent" in the effort to transport people to where they need to be. "In suburbia, people love their cars." Well, they had better be ready to spend even more time in them, or move closer to where they work. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Lend lease Real Estate Investments, inc.