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January 5, 2009

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COMMENTARY

President’s Perspective
Paul Weyrich: His Vision for America Included a Passion for Passenger Rail

By William W. Millar

Public transit just lost a good friend and true believer with the passing of Paul M. Weyrich.  At first glance, Paul would be an unlikely supporter, having devoted the past 35 years to building political coalitions that supported limited government, traditional values, and a strong national defense. He was one of the giants of the modern conservative movement, co-founding the Heritage Foundation in 1973 and founding the Free Congress Foundation a year later. Further, he was usually credited with coining the phrase “moral majority,” which became a label that rallied social conservatives.

You might not expect a conservative of this magnitude to be a strong supporter of public transit—but he certainly was.
His support began with his high school days when he worked to stop the elimination of a train between Milwaukee and Chicago. This evolved into a longtime advocacy of bringing back streetcars to communities. In fact, in 2002, he and William S. Lind wrote Bring Back the Streetcars! A Conservative Vision of Tomorrow’s Urban Transportation. This report explored how urban downtowns are reviving and how new towns are being built to traditional patterns, so the streetcar could not only serve these non-suburban areas, but also help them flourish.

For more than a dozen years, APTA has enjoyed a strong partnership with Paul and his Free Congress Foundation. He helped APTA make the case that public transit efforts were worth the support of conservatives around the country through his many reports, often sponsored by APTA business members. In addition to the one cited above, reports from him and his writing partner Bill Lind included:

* Does Transit Work? A Conservative Reappraisal
Explains why transit’s effectiveness is often measured erroneously.
* How Transit Benefits People Who Do Not Ride It: A Conservative Inquiry
Describes how non-users benefit, encountering less congestion, saving money, and watching their home values increase.
* Twelve Anti-Transit Myths: A Conservative Critique
Debunks misconceptions about rail transit, such as commuting by rail is slower than commuting by car or bus; rail transit does not spur economic development; and it would be cheaper to lease or buy a new car for every rider than to build a new light rail system.

Sturdy, Unwavering Support Year After Year
In 1996, making his first public appearance after injuring his back in January, Paul spoke at APTA’s March Legislative Conference in Washington, DC. He said that political conservatives who have criticized public transit as a creation of government intervention—with little relationship to conservative goals and little use to conservative constituencies—should take another look. At the conference, he introduced his report (written with Bill Lind), Conservatives and Mass Transit: Is It Time for a New Look?, which provided reasons for conservatives to take an interest in public transit policy.

“The trend is clear,” the authors wrote. “As more and more politically conservative, middle, and upper income suburbanites are offered, and begin to use, high quality mass transit, the conservative constituency interested in maintaining and increasing such transit service will grow.” 

At APTA’s Legislative Conference in March 2005, Paul spoke about how political conservatives were coming to understand that they have interests in common with public transportation advocates. “The issue,” he said then, “is that good transportation is not available to large areas of the country; a lot of people would use transit if they could use it. Some people ask, why they should support transit if their people don’t benefit? The answer is that everyone benefits from transit, even the people who don’t ride it.”

At that conference, he also noted the use of transit as a choice. He described how Switzerland, a country with a higher per-capita income than the U.S. and widespread ownership of cars, provides a real choice to commuters by offering convenient transit service. “I will not be satisfied until we have the same kind of transportation choice—all over the U.S.—as in European countries,” he said.

In April the same year, he and Bill Lind released their report Winning Transit Referenda: Some Conservative Advice, which used an anecdotal and entertaining approach in discussing the referendum process. This report complemented the DVD Paul and Bill participated in the year before.

Despite his failing health, Paul recently served on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission and was a vocal advocate for transit throughout the commission’s deliberations. At the March 2007 General Session of APTA’s Legislative Conference in Washington, DC, three members of the commission, including Paul, presented their opinions on future issues facing public transportation agencies.

“The commission members have a fundamental understanding—we want to do what’s best for the American people,” Paul said. “We need more efficient mass transit … I’m optimistic that we’ll come up with a blueprint for Congress and the Administration in coming decades. We’re all going to try.”

At that meeting, he also pointed out that the Federal Transit Administration instituted the Small Starts program, in part, to promote the use of streetcars as a more affordable alternative to light rail, and called for the restoration of intercity rail in corridors where rail is more efficient than air travel.

When the commission issued its report, Transportation for Tomorrow, in January 2008, it called for increased federal investment, expanded services, infrastructure repair, performance-driven accountability, and a redesigned transportation plan for America’s future. “This report stresses giving people a choice so they will have a first-class mass transit system that will be an [incentive] to them to get them out of their cars and take transit,” it said.

Attending Paul’s wake on Dec. 21, I spoke with Joyce, his wife of 45 years. She told me that of all the causes Paul pursued, his passion for rail transportation was the one that meant most to him.  In a city not known for its civility, Paul was always a gentleman, remaining a man of principle. We will miss his strong voice and his good counsel. But most of all, we will miss the man.

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