Letter to the editor: Public light

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Thanks to Una Fonte of 350VT for her thoughtful commentary about the need to increase our use of walking, bicycles and truly coordinated public transportation.

I would encourage this vision to go even further, to a publicly owned light-rail transit system across town, state and region.

As she points out, electric cars are nice but not the solution to expanding mass transit. We have leased or purchased three electrics over the past eight years. An early Leaf (shocks not so good), a Chevy Bolt (eventually sold to an offspring) and currently a KIA Niro. (Not interested in supporting Elon’s values, via Tesla.) All seat five people and are great in snow — the heavy battery in the floors give the cars a low, even, center of gravity.

For electric driving in colder weather, you learn to think ahead. Defroster and cabin heat are going to cut into your distance, so you learn where the charge stations are and where to snack while you charge, and simply plan ahead. Over eight years of driving electric, we have never run out of juice — why God gave people brains.

Additionally, electric cars have no mufflers. They do not take combustion air in, nor push exhaust gases out. There are so few moving parts that the car requires almost no oil changes or maintenance. I think the Bolt manual said the first internal servicing, besides tire rotation, was at 100,000 miles. These savings really help pay for the car.

That said, we are strongly of the opinion that the long-term sustainable solution for everyone to travel is actually European-style light-rail networks across city, state and region. The origins of light-rail transit systems were electric trolleys.

I think Vermont’s late Marty Jezer wrote the best history of how General Motors systematically purchased and destroyed the electric trolley systems of cities across the U.S., beginning almost a century ago. (His book is “The Dark Ages: Life in the United States 1945-1960.”)

In Burlington, Vermont, the last trolley car was ceremoniously set on fire in August 1929 in the center of downtown to celebrate the end of an era.

We need a modern version of that era, preferably starting next Monday. What has happened is possible, and it begins by imagining and reimagining publicly owned (not private) light-rail, connecting every part of our city, state and region.

Robert Spottswood

South Burlington

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