Mass Transit or Personal Vehicles?
Last night a member of my toastmaster club held a "round robin discussion" on supporting mass transit and the proposed Northstar Rail Line.
It was an interesting discussion overall, with a wide range of opinions from "I'd never use mass transit and it'd be cheaper to just give all the riders cars" to "We need an underground subway system with our cold winters" to "It's too expensive and too inconvenient".
Possibly the main arguments, if spelled out would be the self-centered "I don't think I should have to help pay for anything I don't use", and the noble-with-other-people's-money "Whether or not I'd use it I appreciate it's there."
I'm more in the second extreme. I'm largely happy with my free-exercise bicycle, but sometimes more happy when I can take the bus under bad weather (was that snow in the forcast tonight?!)
There's one argument that I can't easily oppose - the belief that it would be cheaper to buy cars for the small minority who now use mass transit. I remember seeing some sort of numbers like that. Personally I'm SURE if you substitute the word "bikes" for "cars", I'm sure it would be true. I also personally think "addicts" of any type always tend to think they've got the ideal solution for everyone.
I visited Washington DC in 2000 for 10 days and never put one foot inside of a car. I took the underground metro for 95% of my trips, even if I walked there a LOT more than at home, and took a bus a few times. Admittingly, even in DC, if I lived there, I'd be on my bike for largely speeder travel. Actually travelling underground is a little confusing - like teleportation. Often I'd come to the surface and not even know what direction I was facing - made doubly tricky since all the roads are diagonal from the cardinal directions.
Anyway, must go, but maybe I can spend some more time later.
It was an interesting discussion overall, with a wide range of opinions from "I'd never use mass transit and it'd be cheaper to just give all the riders cars" to "We need an underground subway system with our cold winters" to "It's too expensive and too inconvenient".
Possibly the main arguments, if spelled out would be the self-centered "I don't think I should have to help pay for anything I don't use", and the noble-with-other-people's-money "Whether or not I'd use it I appreciate it's there."
I'm more in the second extreme. I'm largely happy with my free-exercise bicycle, but sometimes more happy when I can take the bus under bad weather (was that snow in the forcast tonight?!)
There's one argument that I can't easily oppose - the belief that it would be cheaper to buy cars for the small minority who now use mass transit. I remember seeing some sort of numbers like that. Personally I'm SURE if you substitute the word "bikes" for "cars", I'm sure it would be true. I also personally think "addicts" of any type always tend to think they've got the ideal solution for everyone.
I visited Washington DC in 2000 for 10 days and never put one foot inside of a car. I took the underground metro for 95% of my trips, even if I walked there a LOT more than at home, and took a bus a few times. Admittingly, even in DC, if I lived there, I'd be on my bike for largely speeder travel. Actually travelling underground is a little confusing - like teleportation. Often I'd come to the surface and not even know what direction I was facing - made doubly tricky since all the roads are diagonal from the cardinal directions.
Anyway, must go, but maybe I can spend some more time later.
posted by Ares Olympus at 1:24 PM
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