Gas prices have skyrocketed past $4 per gallon, and everyone is talking about how we need to produce more oil. I think we also need to talk about using less oil.

According to the basic law of economics, the price of gas depends on two factors: supply and demand. Decreasing demand is one of the most immediate ways that we can tackle the high cost of gas.

Every day, Americans are proving that public transportation is an easy, immediate, and important part of the solution to decreasing our demand for foreign oil. Public transportation reduces gas consumption by 1.4 billion gallons a year, which equates to more than 33 million barrels of oil. It is equal to 108 million fewer cars filling up in a year.

All across America, public transportation is experiencing a renaissance. It is happening in big cities, suburbs and small towns alike. In 2007, Americans took more than 10.3 billion trips on public transportation, the highest level in 50 years. In the first quarter of 2008, transit ridership showed an increase of 3.3 percent over the first quarter of 2007.

More commuters are choosing to ride the train or bus to work. Public transit systems in metropolitan areas are reporting ridership increases of five, 10 and even 15 percent over last year. Light rail systems saw the largest jump, with a 10 percent increase to 110 million trips in the first quarter.  

The Charlotte Area Transit System, which recently opened a new light rail line, has increased ridership more than 34 percent from February 2007 to February 2008. The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which operates a commuter rail system from Miami to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, posted a rise of more than 20 percent in ridership in March and April as compared to the same time last year. Caltrain, the commuter rail line that serves the San Francisco Peninsula and the Santa Clara Valley, set a record for average weekday ridership in February with a 9.3 percent increase over 2007. In Denver, ridership was up 8 percent in the first three months of 2008, and Minneapolis, Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Francisco all report similar increases.

Meeting this impressive new demand for service is no small task for our transit agencies, however. With record-breaking numbers of new riders, many transit systems are bursting at the seams. The cost of fuel and electric power for public transportation has sharply increased, compounding costs. Every penny added to the cost of diesel and gasoline costs public transportation providers more than $7.6 million.

To address the effects of this squeeze of increased ridership and higher costs on public transportation, on June 26, the House passed H.R. 6052, the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act of 2008, by a vote of 399-22. H.R. 6052 provides financial support to states and public transportation agencies and increases incentives for commuters to choose transit options.

The bill authorizes $1.7 billion in funding over two years for transit agencies nationwide to temporarily reduce fares, expand services or offset the increased cost of system and fleet maintenance to meet the needs of the growing number of transit commuters.

It also allows transit agencies to use these new grants to offset the increased cost of fuel or to acquire clean fuel or alternative fuel vehicle-related equipment or facilities.

Grants can further be used for establishing or expanding “commuter matching services” to provide commuters with information about alternatives to single occupancy vehicle use.

H.R. 6052 increases to 100 percent the federal share for clean fuel and alternative-fuel transit bus-, ferry- or locomotive-related equipment or facilities, thereby assisting transit agencies in becoming more fuel-efficient.

The bill extends the federal transit pass benefits program to federal employees throughout the United States.

In the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, studies show that more than 15,500 automobiles have been eliminated from roads, with an annual savings of more than 8 million gallons of gasoline, as a result of federal employees shifting their commuting mode to public transportation. This provision will allow federal workers in other cities to enjoy similar savings.

Finally, H.R. 6052 creates a national consumer awareness program to educate the public on the environmental, energy and economic benefits of public transportation alternatives to the use of single occupancy vehicles.

Today, Americans are more focused on the costs of commuting than at any time in recent history. They want choices, and Congress needs to provide them.

If Americans used public transit at the same rate as Europeans — for roughly 10 percent of their daily travel needs — the United States could reduce its dependence on imported oil by more than 40 percent, nearly equal to the 550 million barrels of crude oil that we import from Saudi Arabia each year.

That’s the difference public transportation can make.

Oberstar is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.