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October 18, 2006
oh well
Somehow I'd convinced myself that more people were using public transporation and other alternative methods to get to/from work and other tasks. I wanted to believe it.
Apparently not. Carpooling is down (except in the West), transit use is down (except in the West), walking is down and motorcycle use is down. But there's an increase in people who work from home, so that's good.
America is huge geographically. There are just some jobs and locations that are not conducive to anything but driving alone. At one of the places I lived at in Seattle it would take me an HOUR to get to work on public transporation. My work was only TWO miles away. But because the bus had to go a little out of the way to the mall, I'd then have to get off the bus and wait for a transfer bus, get on the transfer bus and then that went on a circutious route to the building. And then I'd have to walk a block. It just didn't work out. And there was nobody on the way that I could carpool with.
Posted by jennj at October 18, 2006 08:40 PM
Clue-ments:
i would say the #1 hinderance
to public transit use becoming mainstream
is funding.
buses and subways are disgusting.
even boston's commuter system is aging.
why?
lack of funding.
for most people it's an easy choice.
sit in my $40-60,000 car
that's less than 3 years old
that i control
that won't be late
that i can drive like the self-absorbed prick i am
and smells like columbian dark roast
instead of like urine
or an over-crowded subway car full of -pleebs-?
i mean, really.
and car pooling gives you even less control
than public transportation.
if we want to get serious about public transit
we need to insist that it get funded
to the point
that they can make the inside of a bus or subway
be as pleasant to ride in
as the inside of a lincoln navigator.
and we need a replacement solution for light rail
because commuter train systems
simply can't cover enough territory
to be particularly useful to most people
and they're -far- too slow.
commuting from providence to boston
takes two hours by train
when you combine driving to the train
parking, walking, waiting, riding, walking...
sure,
it would take the same two hours by car
because you'd be sitting in a traffic jam,
but if i'm not saving time,
and i'm sitting still either way,
why not be somewhere nice?
it's all about the benjamins.
Posted by: jhimm at October 19, 2006 09:16 AM
jhimm - I would love us to spend more money on public transportation and you know, i don't see it happening anytime soon. As it is, they have to raise the MBTA prices because they can't manage their damn budgets.
Posted by: cf at October 19, 2006 09:34 PM
So, jhimm, what do you think would be a fair price and commute time for Providence to Boston?
Posted by: Jay at October 23, 2006 08:40 AM