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III.
The Environmental Benefits from the Use of Public Transportation
Public transportation also offers the largest opportunity and the most efficient means for
making major strides in environmental quality without direct government regulation, especially
in the urban and densely populated suburban areas with the worst pollution. The direct
environmental benefits of public transportation come primarily from two factors. First, as we
have now established, public transportation systems burn less fuel on a per person/per mile basis
and therefore produce less pollution. Second, the diesel fuel and electrical power used in public
transportation systems are less polluting, unit-by-unit, than the gasoline used in most private
automobiles, SUVs, and light trucks.