Tipping Point for Mass Transportation?

New York Times's piece today on high gas prices bringing more people than ever to mass transit systems connects with something I noticed in an Obama speech from May 3, 2008 (below). This is a speech given in Indianapolis, the home of the Indy 500 and much more than a stones throw from the "latte-sipping elites" of the West coast. And yet, if you skip ahead to around 18:44 into the speech, you will see this mid-western audience stand up and applaud as loudly as they did during the entire address for mass transit!

That's right. They’re not cheering for cheaper gas, more tax cuts, or bringing back blue collar jobs (although this would undoubtedly result from such a massive investment in the US transport infrastructure) -- these people are jumping to their feet to applaud on the idea that America should build the kind of fast, efficient national rail system that has become a badge of honor for not only Japan and Europe, but also for China, India, and the Middle East.



In case you have problems with the video, at around 18:44 Obama proclaims, "...We can invest in mass transit and Amtrak and create high speed rail lines all across America that help us conserve energy once and for all." After this the crowd cheers so loudly that he has to pause until they quiet down so that he can move on to the issue of renewable energy and re-tooling American factories.