Public Transit Urged as Gas Prices Climb Higher

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 6, 2008 at 7:28 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

A new California Public Interest Research Group study says San Diego and other cities need to accelerate public transportation options. The report says more federal funding is needed to move local tra

A new California Public Interest Research Group study says San Diego and other cities need to accelerate public transportation options. The report says more federal funding is needed to move local transit projects off the drawing board. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The CALPIRG report says more money needs to be invested in public transportation, such as high speed rail and buses. CALPRIG's Erin Steva says reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our reliance on imported oil are two reasons to develop more public transit. She says reduced traffic and improved safety are other reasons.

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Steva: San Diego is one of the most congested cities in the nation and so this is something people are dealing with on a day-to-day basis. Than in addition there's safety issues. So car accidents claim more than 40,000 American lives each year. And rail and bus travel is a much safer way to get around.

She says a recent study of a proposed statewide high-speed rail line shows that 90-million people would ride the rails and leave their cars at home. A bond measure to fund a 700-mile high-speed rail line may be on November's ballot.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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