Outside of the downtown area and some older streetcar suburbs, most American cities just really aren't laid out to use mass transit, bicycles, or electric cars with the performance of golf carts and the range of a hard-thrown paper airplane.
I live in an old "streetcar suburb" that, fortunately, allows me to do most of my necessary shopping and suchlike by foot or bike if I choose. The times I use the car are because either the weather is miserable or I am going to be making the kind of shopping trip that doesn't lend itself to lugging my purchases on a bike rack and in either of those cases, why would I want to use a bus? I'd still wind up standing in the freezing rain waiting for IndyGo or having to schlep the 24-roll-pack of TP and a case of soda on and off the bus and a couple of blocks back to Roseholme Cottage...
"...allows me... if I choose."
ReplyDeleteThat's the key right there.
I do not like communities that are totally car-dependent. Walking and cycling are good enjoyable and healthy activities, but a lot of more recently built neighborhoods don't even have sidewalks. Plus there's nowhere to go within walking distance other than a jillion more houses just like the one you left.
A community that's designed with a lot of options works for me. I'm a couple miles North of you in Carmel and appreciate what the town has done to make cycling, walking, jogging all viable options. This does not eliminate the need for cars, but it is good to be flexible.
The failure of Mass Transit in the US is mainly because transit agencies seem to delight in avoiding making it easy to get from A to B.
ReplyDeleteHere in Silicon Gulch, one bus line detours around a big row of auto dealers & repair shops. Convenient if your car is in the shop - not! Another line runs to a huge mall, but stops at either corner across the street from the mall, not in front of it.
Add tiny, drafty, leaky "shelters" that always seem to face the rain and punks who get in people's faces, why would you use it?
But why is it that almost everyone on a S.F. Cable Car is polite? Shared misery or just the nostalgia?
I've never in my life lived anyplace that was reasonably served by mass transit. Mostly because I prefer country life to urban.
ReplyDeleteToo many rats in the maze, and they turn on each other.
alath, do you agree with Tam's "Libertarian, except for the cool stuff..." (Jan. 30) post?
ReplyDelete"But why is it that almost everyone on a S.F. Cable Car is polite? Shared misery or just the nostalgia?"
They're tourists.
Phoenix is roughly 60 miles across. San Francisco is 9 miles. Therein lies at least one problem. I used to commute 7 mi./each way to work, 30 min there, 1 hour back due to conflicting schedules(mine vs. transit co.) Then my co. moved 17 mi/one way--5 mi to Fwy, 12 mi North. More than 2+ hours, three transfers, just to get to work!
ReplyDeleteMass transit only works for confined areas, then, it's great.
OA, I'm probably as guilty as the next "libertarian... except..." person.
ReplyDeleteBut if you're going to say the bike paths in my town are unconstitutional, tyrannical, and inimical to liberty, you're going to have to make the same case for the roads.
I like walkable communities. They're human scale, have lots of amenities close by, I enjoy walking, and once your kids hit the teen years they can walk lots of places instead of requiring you to be their chauffeur.
ReplyDeleteMass transit I can live without. Outside of the 50 or so largest American cities it's really just for old people and poor people Anyone with the means to own their own cars will do so for convenience and freedom.
True and dedicated bike commuting is a dangerous business, even with careful route selection. Too many times there is no good route at all, for certain road stretches or for crossing bad neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteAdd in the necessity of travel in the dark, weather conditions, and the average driver's inattention to surroundings, and you will certainly get your daily adrenaline fix.
As noted, our commerce and business geography has little relationship to efficient mass public transport over local or long distances. And, it's feasibility surely depends on your local climate.
A year-round 20 mile daily round-trip commute on a bike is not exceptional at all, in the world of riding, providing there are byways and highways that you can run like a rat maze for the best time and least exposure.
However, to start such a venture involves so many factors as to whether the idea is workable at all, that I wouldn't really recommend it to someone, without a sit down and talk about how they are going to do it. Local grocery runs and two-three mile 'this end of town' ride-to-work jaunts are one thing. Hitting the pavement for a a ten mile, or many times more, cross town commute is quite another.
However, for a good many riders, without dedicated bike paths it's just no fun and sure as hell not relaxing. OTOH, in a town like Ann Arbor, Michigan where bike paths are plentiful, vehicular traffic is used to mixing with two wheelers, and everyone is like peaceful, man*; well then pedal away
Otherwise, you can throw the rubber to the road, and develop 360degree audible-based ESP. ;~`)
*peaceful: you all agree politically that Socialism and extreme tolerance of true-believer acting-out behaviors are OK. Conservatives are not allowed in within the town limits after dark, and NRA members are mobbed and hung on sight [they wish].
'bicas'&
2nd verse 'unchne' my heart...and lemme ride free,
If you want a city to be designed for public transporation, you merely raise tax rates on the property located next to the subway stations. Then the property owners have incentive to invest in that property, reduce parking spaces, and massively increase the density, and do all the things that then make the public transporation system work. Either that or abandon the property to the city, which could then sell the property to someone who would have the same incentives.
ReplyDeletealath said...
ReplyDeleteOA, I'm probably as guilty as the next "libertarian... except..." person.
But if you're going to say the bike paths in my town are unconstitutional, tyrannical, and inimical to liberty, you're going to have to make the same case for the roads.
Keith says...
Except that...
Every time I fill my fuel tank, I pay for roads.
Every time I buy tires, I pay for roads.
Every time I pay for my plates/registration, I pay for roads.
Every time I ride my bicycle, I freeload.
My fuel tax, excise tax, vehicle tax wouldn't bother me so much if it was used for roads.
But NOOOO! Gotta subsidize the buses and light rail that don't get enough ridership to pay for them selves. And what they waste on HOV lanes would get you another lane each way for everybody (if not two) which would cut down on the congestion.
Most streetcar cities had a neighborhood grocery every four blocks or so. In those pre-refrigeration days, the trip to the store was a daily one, and most stores had a bus stop.
ReplyDeleteA husband's daily drill was get off the bus, grab the pork chops, milk, and bread, (19, 10, and 10 cents a unit, respectively) and take shanks mare to the house.
"Pop" was bought six at a time (25 cents) TP (8 cents) was purchased one roll at a time, as needed to fill in when the Monkey Wards catalog was too new to be used.
The same drill went for the very few women who worked.
Now, multiply those prices by 20.4 to find the cost in today's MiniBux.
Stranger
I live just outside of Boston. Here public transportation is essential for many, even those like me who also own a car. The streets are a bewildering maze of one way and finding parking is a nightmare. Would much rather hop on the T, as we call it. I hate driving in Boston! Cambridge is worse!
ReplyDeleteTrue.
ReplyDeleteBut what works in a old, dense urban core like Boston or New York doesn't work as well in a post-automobile "donut city" like Atlanta or LA...
"But if you're going to say the bike paths in my town are unconstitutional, tyrannical, and inimical to liberty, you're going to have to make the same case for the roads."
ReplyDeleteRoads are a necessity, bike paths aren't.
Wildman7316, exactly.
City buses don't cut it in sprawling cities. Period. End of story. Strip cities like San Francisco? Much easier to have some degree of efficiency.
ReplyDeleteBut as we changed after WW II to a "commuter" society with one-way jaunts to work of 50 to 100 miles, the idea of mass transit pretty much went away. Modern mass transit is the automobile. Doesn't matter what anybody likes; it's the way we've developed.
The issue that nobody addresses is how to create a world of short and efficient commutes from home to work. "Company towns" is one way, although that itself creates new dislocations.
Interesting times, not just now but also in the future...
Art
My bike sits chained to a tree near my boat, rusting place.
ReplyDeleteTo get on a bicycle around here - unless you drive to "the trail" (an old railroad right-of-way) is to take your life in your hands. (And the trail isn't safe either, but that's another story.)
Too many crazy drivers. Too many old drivers. Too many drunk tourists,... spring-break, spring-training whatever.
I saw one old lady hit a cyclist pretty hard and keep right on going. Didn't even know the old caddy hit anything.
<"But if you're going to say the bike paths in my town are unconstitutional, tyrannical, and inimical to liberty, you're going to have to make the same case for the roads."
ReplyDeleteRoads are a necessity, bike paths aren't.>
And of course, if something is a necessity, it is the government's job to provide it?
Look, it's a policy choice. Either you can build cars-only roads, or you can build roads with bike paths. If the city chooses to build roads with bike paths, they open up more options for the people who live there.
If you feel the need to overthrow the government over the bike paths, go for it. Viva la revolucion.
Oh knock it off. You know damn well why governments provide roads and why bike paths are a waste of tax dollars for 99.999% of the population.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those who wants to ride her bike everywhere -- work, play, you name it.
ReplyDeleteHowever.
I don't have 2.5 kids and a week's worth of groceries to lug around. Throw even one kid into the mix and it's four wheels only, baby.
Plus I am not taking my bike across Keystone Avenue. Not no way, not no how.
OA, that's probably about right. When spending on bike paths exceeds 0.001% of what we spend on automotive roads, I'll join your revolution. I'm waiting for the day, comrade!
ReplyDeleteWhy do you keep mentioning revolution?
ReplyDeleteThe saddest thing is that, if there is a niche where public transit could actually benefit things in the area, the local government is bound to ignore that entirely.
ReplyDeleteI live in the Norfolk, VA area. The largest employer in the area is the Naval Base in Norfolk. When the state built HOV lanes, they had the sense to base the direction of use on the location and working hours of the people at the base.
When the local cities decided to build a light rail system, a wise move would have been to use it to funnel people too and from the base. Instead, they have it start in some random spot in town, and go to some other random spot. It's a single leg rail system that starts somewhere few people go, travels through more places that are not hard to drive to at all, and ends at another place where few people go.
I honestly think the only way they could have picked a more useless route for this thing is if they built it in the middle of the desert. It's like someone came into town singing "Monorail!". Because the location only makes sense if you're more concerned with making the light rail visible from the interstate than you are with making things better in the area.