Roads also fragment wildlife habitat, making it unsuitable for some species. Approximately 33 percent of all energy consumed in our state is used for transportation. Without continuous improvements in efficiency and environmental technology, our pollution will increase as VMT increases. Social Traditional, centralized towns and cities are more amenable to transit use and harbor a greater sense of community identity than sprawling townships and corporate campuses. Automobile dependence tends to isolate people in their cars, inhibiting interaction and community coherence.
Transit brings people together in stations, towns, and in larger vehicles.
Knowledge Gaps We need data about the locations of our jobs, homes, recreation, and shopping districts so that they can be analyzed for proximity to each other and to existing transportation services. Consistently collected land use data, surprisingly, remain unavailable. It is by understanding the layout of our daily activities that we can really address the issues of why and how much we have to travel. These data do not include the very important ridership of numerous privately operated mass-transit companies, especially bus lines.