Riding on the Metro - II
Brian and I were talking last night about global warming, pollution, "draconian governmental regulation" (his phrase), hybrids and public transportation. It was a heartwarming conversation (for a couple of geeks, anyway).
We agreed that Atlanta's transportation system just plain sucks except when you want to get to the airport or ballgame in rush hour traffic. I took the train to work for a while and it involved driving halfway to work, parking at the station and fearing that my car would be vandalized, riding an east-west train, changing to a north-south train, then walking 10 minutes to my office. A big pain in the arse, but doable if you have 2 hours to kill and a good book to read (just don't get too engrossed in your book and forget to watch your back). Since I moved I cut my commute down to 30 minutes or less and the train doesn't stop within any reasonable walking distance from my office so I won't even consider it as an alternative.
The train really doesn't go anywhere. There's a great disparity in the decor, atmosphere, safety and upkeep between the north/south and east/west lines. And really, they just charge too much.
I said that by and large, I thought most of the country didn't have viable transportation alternatives to taking an automobile to work. Plus, since most of us can only afford one car to serve all purposes we tend to drive cars to work that are bigger and less fuel efficient than what we might need just for commuting. Lots of people would like to be greener, but it tends to be a big, expensive pain in the butt.
NYC is one place where a whole bunch of people don't even own cars at all. I'm not going to look this up right now, but I believe the city's public transportation system is the most extensive in the country. If MARTA, Atlanta's public transportation system, could get their act together and build a network like NYC's the Average Joe might have a real alternative to bumper-to-bumper traffic on 75, 85 and 285. Well, if they could do enough to make sure that Average Joe was safe and comfortable.
For now I think those of us who only occasionally venture onto buses or trains do so with great fear and trepidation. Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) wrote a funny blog post about just this thing when he and his wife rode the subway in NYC.
If this is what we'd have to put up with when there is a system that goes anywhere maybe it's a good thing MARTA doesn't.
posted by Teresa | 4:52 AM
6 Comments:
Our public transportation system sucks too. It does not go anywhere near where I need too and too many STRANGE people on the bus.
Here's another twist on global warming - one of those politicians, Harry Reid, I think blamed the California wild fires on global warming (and then denied his statement five minutes later). Um yeah - what ever.
That's crazy. Everyone knows global warming is caused by pig flatulence, black cars and Aqua Net hairspray.
We don't have public transportation in Dandridge. We do have the trolley in Sevier Co where I work. It will take you to the 50 million malls.Caitlin's come to work with me and used it, they threw the color coded trolley route and took the first trolley that came around. They did fine until the trip back, luckily they ended up close to my work at Walmart so I could pick them up.
I hereby propose that we give all livestock a steady diet of Beano. There - problem solved.
We don't have any public transportation where I live and I am glad, because the second we get it crime will go up and our property value will go down. I don't feel it should be the government's responsibility to move low income individuals around if they don't have vehicles. When I had no car and no money I had to take a cab to get where I needed to go, and I didn't expect the government to extend MARTA out to where I lived to make my life more convenient. They'll use anything as an argument for global warming...
It's not always about low-income individuals that can't afford cars, missy.
I personally think the best thing that could happen to MARTA is if it were taken out of the government's hands and forced to be profitable to survive.
I'm betting the trolley system Suzanne mentions is profitable, directly or indirectly. I'd venture a guess that it's an undertaking supported by the merchants who have a vested interest in making it easy for people to spend money at their shops and restaurants. Works for me.
Whether you believe global warming is a natural, cyclical phenomenon or that it is caused by humans (or you have the rational, intelligent opinion that it is a combination of the two), global warming isn't the only reason or even the most immediate reason we ought to cut fuel consumption and emissions.
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