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Text of an Address by the President to Be Delivered at the Sixth International Conference on Urban Transportation [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7336018
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Text of an Address by the President to Be Delivered at the Sixth International Conference on Urban Transportation [Ford Speech or Statement]
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1974-09-09
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Digitized from Box 2 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
EMBARGOE OR RELEASE
Septe ber 9, 1974
UNTIL 11:35 AM, EDT
Office of the White House Press Secretary
(Fittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
THE WHITE HOUSE
TEXT OF AN ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO BE DELIVERED AT THE
SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON URBAN TRANSPORTATION
Thank you for inviting me.
I am told that some people in Europe heard about my nomination of Governor
Rockefeller and concluded that we had solved our transportation problems.
The Europeans said that we now have a combination of a Ford who makes
automobiles
and a Rockefeller
who makes gasoline.
In any event, you are international authorities on urban transportation. You
know that we have too many automobiles
and not enough gasoline. So it
is good to go ahead with this conference.
Even though I am not in the transportation business, I am dedicated to the
revival of efficient transportation in our great urban centers. Pittsburgh,
where we are meeting, has done a particularly good job.
Your theme
Marketing Urban Renaissance
is
appropriate.
All
of
our
cities are observing the work you are doing here.
The relationship between urban regeneration, and transportation is extremely
close. Among our most pressing urban problems is transportation especially
the automobile. For the past 25 years, automobiles have been the most important
factor in shaping urban centers and expanding suburbs.
There are some 100 million automobiles on nearly 4 million miles of American
streets and highways. That makes one car for every two Americans. And most
of those 100 million cars are in our way when we try to drive somewhere.
Many Americans have moved to suburbs where there is less traffic. Betty and
I can vouch for the restful suburban life. We raised our family in Alexandria,
Virginia, just outside Washington. Frankly, I miss it especially my backyard
swimming pool.
But suburban population grew faster than our central city population. Americans
by the millions drove to and from work. Most took to the road at approximatel
the same time of day as everyone else. I admire the fortitude and driving skill
of Americans who are on time without police and Secret Service escorts.
I'm sure everyone here has been caught in rush-hour traffic jams. I know I
have, many times -- even with the Secret Service to guide me. Sitting bumper-
to-bumper in traffic has become a way of life to many Americans. I remember
when I was a Congressman, and I asked a New York City policeman the best way
to Brooklyn. And he was very blunt about it. "Buddy, he said, "the best way
to Brooklyn is to be born there,
(MORE)
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-2-
America must have better solutions. That's what this conference is all
about. Solutions must be found for the growing problems of congestion
and pollution challenges now complicated by energy conservation.
As a Michigander with the name of Ford, you can be sure I'm not going
to say any unkind things about automobiles. But excessive use of cars
in dense urban areas increases pollution levelo, causes jammed traffic,
massive headaches, and the bumper-to-bumpe: tie-ups burn too much
scarce and expensive fuel.
Last winter's energy crisis drove home a message: We must make
major progress in improving urban transit. We must move promptly.
Well-planned action is essential.
Priorities must be carefully laid out. If there is to be a "renaissance"
of urban transportation, that renaissance must be builf. on solid concepts.
We must address ourselves to the high priority need for action to halt
the decline which has developed over the past decade in existing urban
transit systems.
Progress is being made. The approximately 750 separate capital grants --
totalling more than $3 billion since 1970 -- which the Federal Urban Mass
Transportation Administration made to help our cities buy buses and
add urban and commuter rail systems has certainly helped. Mass transit
ridership in the U.S. this year has risen above last year's level the
first time such an increase has taken place since the end of World War II.
Our Nation has to develop urban transit systems that people want to use.
Until we develop systems that offer the convenience, comfort and reliability
expected from our cars, transit service will continue to be under-used.
That's why I believe this conference, with its accent on "transit marketing, "
is right on target.
Most Americans have simply bought the concept of public transit. Unlike
the appealing and heavily-used mass transit of cities like London, Paris,
Montreal, Munich and Moscow, public transportation here is considered
by most Americans as a painful last-resort.
Let us take a leaf from the book of the automotive industry. We must
compete with the automakers in the effective promotion of products, in
their imagination, enterprise and marketing skills. There is no group
of men and women better qualified to carry out that mission than you
here today.
As we move to improve our transit systems, we must not lose sight of
one important fact: The automobile is and will continue to be our chief
transportation vehicle.
The automobile fits America's traditional life-style. No matter how plush
the bus, no matter how comfortable the train, Americans will still
drive their cars. Automobiles will be with us for a long time to come.
What we must do, is to learn how best to live with them on the urban
scene.
(MORE)
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-30
We must develop planning procedures, transit programs and policies
that are sufficiently flexible to match the diversity of our cities. There
is no one "best" transit solution that will fit all cities. Some are better
suited for bus systems, others for subways, fixed guideway systems or
for combinations of services. And in developing these systems, long-term
considerations require that transportation and land-use planning be closely
coordinated. This, of course, can only be done locally.
There is a legitimate and major role to be played by the Federal Govern-
ment in assisting urban transit systems. But that role must be carried
out in partnership with States and localities.
We will help with urban planning and with transit technology development.
Yet, it should be clearly understood that the chief objective of Depart-
ment of Transportation grant programs is to help cities solve their
transportation problems. It is not to restructure and rebuild cities.
Federal assistance must be primarily directed at finding cost-efficient
solutions to the problem of moving people. It must only secondarily be
viewed as a means to stimulate urban-area economic growth or to
increase central city density. Federal taxpayers just can't afford to
pay for the whole package. I won't ask them to do so.
Washington will help with funding, but that funding simply must have realistic
restraints. This is especially true as the Congress and the White House
join as inflation fighters in a policy of fiscal responsibility. Investments
in local mass transit systems must have reasonable cost-benefit relation-
ships. The House-passed Federal Mass Transportation Act of 1974 pro-
poses $11 billion, spread over six years, an absolute upper limit dollar
amount.
I have a problem with the program structure in the House bill and its
treatment of federal operating assistance for public transit.
A committee of the Senate will be considering a transit bill whose program
structure is similar to the Administration's transit proposal. I am confi-
dent that this problem can be overcome.
I have opposed transit operating subsidies in the past because of my strong
belief that such a program would lead the federal government into local
transit operating matters. Also, I have learned from my experience with
other federal categorical grant programs for operating expenses, that
these funds often do not result in better and more service. Instead, they
simply result in greater costs and less efficiency.
It is my conclusion that our current inflexible urban mass transit grant
program encourages states and cities to adopt capital-intensive solutions,
such as subways, as a response to their transpo rtation problems. Ac-
cordingly, I am supporting some limited federal operating assistance such
as the proposal submitted to Congress last February by the Administration.
This will allow a limited portion of federal urban transit funds to be used
for operating expenses as an integral part of a comprehensive transit
program and as a result of decisions by local and state officials.
The key here is that federal officials are not involved in the capital-operating
trade-off; local officials make that decision. Although the operating assis-
tance provisions of the House bill do not meet these standards, the Senate will
have a chance to correct this deficiency.
I am convinced that with enough imagination, with enough determination,
and with a very careful ordering of our priorities, we can achieve our national
transportation goals. And I am determined that we do so without further
feeding the fires of inflation by busting the Federal budget.
(MORE)
GERALD LIBRARY FORD
-4-
Let me leave you with this thought:
From the early days of this Nation, we have been a mobile people. We
carved canals out of the countryside to carry on commerce. We journeyed
West following the only road maps we knew -- the wagon ruts of those who had
gone before.
Today, with modern methods of movement, we have achieved miracles of
mobility. But we have to maintain and expand the avenues of movement
for all Americans. The wheels of this Nation cannot stop turning -- whether
they are on cars or trucks or buses or trains or planes.
As Americans, we must move together into the future. With your dedicated
and inspired efforts here this week, you can make this journey memorable.
# # #
R.
FORL
GERALD