Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation

Note the majority only care about what's in it for them RIGHT NOW!!! Also, most Americans want public transportation IF it picks them up at their door and drops them off at their place of work with no stops in-between (or at least few stops). Few are willing to drive to a station, take a train or bus, and walk the final distance to their job.

The problem with American cities isn't the lack of public transportation, it's that we live many miles from where we work. American cities only work well with personal transportation (cars). We need to re-design the way we live before we try to use public transportation to make up for poor urban design.

 

The Onion and The Daily Show are the two best sources for news these days. :madgrin:

 

Don't forget Conan O'brien

 

It is an excellent example of how anything, especially a pole, can be spun just about any way you wish to misslead people. Reading the title, I practically fell out of my chair when I read 98 percent in the subject line. Then I opened the OP and read "Other People" and thought "Ya Think! I would prefer that 100 percent of the other people would take public transportation and stay off my roads.

I would like it though, if it would pick me up at my front door and drop me at work, and take me to a couple of errands during lunch, and maybe drop by an appointment on the way home.

I used local public transportation to get from work to pick up my car from repair once. It involved waiting 10 minutes for a bus, 15 minute ride to the light rail station, figuring out an unfamillar ticket machine with resulting over payment and later contact to request partial refund, stop after stop after stop for people to get on and off and on and off, overcrowding with people hanging over me, hard seats, ugly grafitti and a final 10 block walk to the dealership. A 30 minute trip by car becomes a 2 hour trip. I cannot afford to spend 3+ hours, 5 days per week in a shaky, dirty bus and train.

 

Interesting, isn't it. I have had the same experience traveling overseas. I do the same when I fly into NYC. NYC is one of the few U.S. cities where it is easier to take public transportation than to rent a car and drive.

European cities tend to be more compact and suited for public transportation. I imagine this is a chicken and the egg situation: without cars, the city can't spread out; being compact, you don't need cars.

My family lives in a small village. Our life style is very European. We walk to work, walk to the post office, walk to the bank, walk to school, walk to the bakery, walk to the grocery store, and walk to the marina. We walk everywhere. Our Prius sits in the garage unless we make a shopping trip to the "big" city (population 14,000) or go on a trip. I shop for groceries daily, sometimes more that once a day.

It's a great way to live. I'm hoping U.S. cities become more walkable. The standard suburban life style in the U.S. lacks in many ways.

Tom

 

Tom

I am very happy for you, and I don't mean this sarcasticly at all. I would love to live in such a small town. problem is, if eveyone else who would likely enjoy such a lifestyle moves there, it won't be like that anymore. I grew up in a small town like that, and the number of careers available to me there was very limited, and I doubt there would have been enough jobs for all the kids that were growing up, so some of us ultimately would have to move to a big city, or the area would just become depressed as people competed for lower and lower wadge jobs. I am not an economist. Just my idea that could be totally wrong.

 

Yes, part of the problem is exponential population growth as you note, but the other issue is centralization of work. When we were industrially based this was more of an issue (although Japan managed industrialization with less centralization through contracting with numerous "mom and pop" suppliers in outlying areas rather than big factories). Now that we are getting more and more info- and service based, I believe we will see more and more telecommuting. Practically everything I see done at work (a software development environment) could be done with all of us telecommuting. Tools need to improve and bandwidth increases would help, but we're about there now.

Part of the problem is people who cannot turn lose of paper. I'm MUCH closer to the end of my career than the beginning, but I despize paper and prefer to review and work on documents on the screen. Most of my contemporaries do not (well, not the screen I'm currently looking at - I'm on my 10" netbook right now and my eyes aren't up to multiple windows on this screen any more ). Not to mention paper is such a waste of resources even if it is "renewable."

 

Guess I am one of the 2% I have a car payment, car insurance, car maintenance, and fuel. Not sure why I have to be charged for someone to ride a bus? IDK, maybe I am selfish, but I work for myself, not others.

 

This lifestyle is not just limited to small villages. There are many neighborhoods in most cities that can provide the same experience.
Just harder to find in the suburbs!

 

The last two posts make good points. A well designed city is nothing more than a collection of small communities. Each community should be self contained for daily needs while larger resources are shared: airports, hospitals, etc. Ideally people live and work in the same community.

Unfortunately, in the U.S., most areas are not pedestrian friendly. The government spends money on studies to see how they can encourage people to ride bicycles or walk, seemingly oblivious to the fact that you will get killed tying to do either on most of our city streets. Equally unfortunate, jobs are not very stable in this country. If you find a house or apartment near your place of work, the company will close or relocate. It's nearly impossible to work and live in the same area. This shouldn't be the case.

I don't have the answers, but I do know that it's a lifestyle worth pursuing.

Tom