Mass Transit

◆ Mass transit has come in for much discussion recently. Seattle, Washington, has successfully encouraged free bus rides to clear congested streets. But Rome, Italy, found that free bus rides drew mainly former pedestrians, not auto drivers; so traffic remained heavy. Many will agree with Business Week, which notes: “One of the ironies of the present situation is that the specter of shortages and gasoline rationing is encouraging people to use mass transit at a time when its amenities and capacity to absorb them are limited.”

In the U.S., Continental Trailways, a bus company, reports that the number of passengers it carries increased 20 percent between October and February.