As gasoline prices continue their daily rise, Oklahoma commuters are looking to transportation alternatives.

Economical and eco-friendly fuels like ethanol and biodiesel offer a high-tech solution to our automobile woes. But today's oil scarcity presents us with a unique opportunity to resurrect a low-tech means of transportation from our past: the train.

Oklahoma's own passenger rail service, the Heartland Flyer, is a model for success. Unfortunately, the future of the Flyer is uncertain. The train may have to discontinue service Sept. 30 when its funding runs out. At this critical juncture, Oklahomans should embrace the Heartland Flyer and expand its operations.

The Flyer is a joint venture between Amtrak and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. It started transporting passengers along its 418-mile track between the Santa Fe rail depot in Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, Texas, on June 15, 1999. The Heartland Flyer carried almost 11,000 passengers in its first month of service, according to Amtrak.

After one year of operation, the Flyer had carried 71,400 passengers, more than three times what Amtrak had originally anticipated. In the last year, ridership is up almost 20 percent.

Despite its overwhelming success, the intercity rail service has its critics, including, most notably, Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.).

He and his cohorts say the Flyer is expensive and requires considerable government subsidies. This is partly true.

But as a career public servant, Mr. Istook should know that all public means of transportation require government subsidies. The subways of New York City and Washington, D.C. don't pay for themselves, and they shouldn't. In exchange for transportation that is easily affordable and accessible to everyone, we as taxpayers agree to pay more. The Heartland Flyer costs Oklahoma taxpayers about $4 million a year, the same as it costs to build one-quarter-mile of interstate highway. This figure is dwarfed by the estimated $29 million in economic development that the Flyer has brought to Oklahoma City, Norman, Pauls Valley and the rest of the state.

The economic benefit of the Flyer is undeniable. That is why mayors of Edmond, Perry and Guthrie have sent letters urging Gov. Brad Henry to expand the Heartland Flyer north into Kansas.

Expanding the Flyer north to connect with Amtrak services out of Kansas would generate enough revenue to defray most of the Flyer's operational costs, according to Tom Elmore, the executive director of the North America Transportation Institute. This revenue comes from postage and express contracts that are currently trucked between Fort Worth and Kansas City.

Of course, Mr. Istook and his like-minded friends oppose such an expansion. The only reason the Heartland Flyer isn't self-sustainable is because its opponents won't let it pay for itself.

Mr. Istook's crusade against light rail in Oklahoma began in 1996. That year, Frank Lucas and Mayor Ron Norick attempted to secure federal funding for a light rail circulator in Oklahoma City. They only asked for $13 million of the almost $30 million that Oklahoma sends every year to the Federal Transit Trust Fund. It was Ernest Istook who killed the proposal in the House transportation subcommittee. The project died.

Ironically, Mr. Istook championed a similar effort to appropriate some $35 million for light rail in Salt Lake City. It's unfortunate that Mr. Istook cares more about the nice people of Utah than his constituents here in Oklahoma.

Sadly, the attitude of Mr. Istook is that of the prevailing mindset in Washington these days. While there may be little we can do about it, supporters of the Flyer will soon converge on the capital and urge our state representatives to support the train for another fiscal year.

Write your state congressmen and voice your support for Oklahoma's Heartland Flyer. Urge them to invest in passenger rail and take advantage of this special opportunity to revive a dying mode of fast, clean and affordable transportation.

-Alex Duncan is an economics junior. His column appears every other Tuesday and he can be reached at dailyopinion@ou.edu.

Editor's clarification: Alex Duncan's column contained two implied inaccuracies.

Oklahoma did in fact write into a highway bill that passed over the summer indefinite funding for the Heartland Flyer. Questions only remain regarding possible federal cuts in Amtrak funding.

Also, Mr. Duncan implied that Rep. Ernest Istook was on a House transportation subcommittee, when in fact Rep. Istook was not.
hello there & you too