I have debilitating arthritis and could never get around with public transportation- I have to drive all the way to my destination. For the government to design the country's transportation system around public transportation would harm people like me.
Rational Economics wrote:
Transportation should be turned over to the private sector so that the roads and other modes of transportation will grow up around what people demand, not what liberals think people ought to do.
I don't think that roads should be left to the market. Most homes only connect to one or two roads. This gives a hell of a lot of monopoly power to the owner of the road that connects to your driveway. In 2008, the average driver paid about $15 per month in gas taxes. Add in the general revenue taxes and local taxes that help pay for roads and the average driver probably paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 per month to drive. In the free market solution, I imagine that you'd be paying $20 just to get out of your driveway two or three times.
My wife takes a cab to work because the buses in my Baltimore neighborhood are scary.
6 murders in my hood last year. Plus a couple shootings.
When we move she will be on public transit.
Back in the early 90's there was a movie called "Singles" in it the main character was trying to sell the mayor of Seattle on a huge mass transit system.
The Mayor looks at him, agrees with him looks him in the eye and says "Yes, but listen too me.. People love their cars." Meeting over.
North American cities are built around the car far more than European cities. Public transit works far more effectively in areas of high population density than it does in cities with enormous urban sprawl.
As it exists now, public transportation is terrible and I would never use it because it takes at least three times as long to get somewhere. My point is that a good transit system reduces travel time significantly, is much safer, and ultimately is cheaper. To the poster who said 15 minutes a day is not a lot, that is just within the city limits. There are inter and intrastate highways people use before they get into the city. Take I-95 at 5:00 and tell me you're only losing 15 minutes.
I can take a mix of: a car, train and bus to get from my house to work.
drive to the train station, take the train, then get on a bus that takes me to work. To do that makes what is a 30 min commute by car into an 1.5 hr odyssy.
It would be somewhat cheaper but not by a large margin, AND the inconveniance would be H U G E.
I'd pay $5 for gas in order to avoid public transportation. I'd pay $10 if I had to. If I had to take public transportation I'd pretty much stop going anywhere.
HRE wrote:
I'd pay $5 for gas in order to avoid public transportation. I'd pay $10 if I had to. If I had to take public transportation I'd pretty much stop going anywhere.
I'm curious as to why you are so adverse to public transit. Obviously, $10/gal gas would mean greatly improved transit systems, so you're not talking about choosing $10 gas over current public transit, you are talking about choosing $10 gas over public transit that would likely be pretty darn good. Are you just that against the idea of being near other people?
That's an excellent point. If you had a public transport system that took you from your door to the place you're going directly it would be a wonderful thing. But that isn't feasible. When you factor in time spent walking to the nearest stop, waiting for the bus or train to turn up, wait a while for the train or bus you're transferring onto to show up you aren't saving much time over what you'd spend sitting in traffic.
The ideal thing would be a world where we lived close enought to work that it would be possible to ride a bike, walk or run, or even just have a very short drive. But with two career families and frequent job changes that's not feasible either.
There's no way in hell I'd ever ride a public bus. They smell like piss and are filled with bums and inner city folk. F*** that! I'm like a previous poster. I'll pay $10 a gallon for gas before I ride a F***ing city bus.
"Obviously, $10/gal gas would mean greatly improved transit systems"
Obviously??? Really? I dont think that the two are tied at the hip. Hell, when it was $5 a gallon ours was WORSE because they had to cut bus routes.
Well, there is being against being near other people. I enjoy being alone in my car or maybe just with my family. But I hate waiting on corners or platforms and having to meet someone else's schedule.
I once made the mistake of not covering my mouth while yawning and riding on a bus with the window next to me open as the bus went round a sharp corner. Some guy a few rows ahead of me spit a wad of chewing tobacco out his window and it blew back into my mouth. I was traumatized for life.
No, we need personal flying machines.
Ground cars force an enormous number of people into a 2-dimensional system of roads. With a flying machine, I would now have a 3-dimensional path to get where I need to go.
We'd save on building roads, bridges, etc., etc.
Make it happen!
Public transportation, along with most government programs face a cyclical problem. Underfunded programs function poorly because they are under funded. The public sees that programs are poorly functioning and perceive them as being a waste. They then lower their funding to prevent "waste" which causes the program to function even worse and continuing the cycle. Transportation is always an easy target for policymakers trying to save money because the perception is always that it works terribly and wastes lots of money.
In reality, public transportation saves billions of dollars for Americans. If people had better access to it, it would save trillions, and would make everyone much more productive. People may have to spend a few dollars more in their taxes for public transportation, but those who choose to use it save thousands per year (net).
Note: I take the bus everyday to work (in one of the most dangerous cities in America) instead of my car and have decided to get rid of my car.
Honestly I sort of like the way public transportation forces me to wait. After spending all morning trying to do everything as fast as possible to get out the door on time, there's something relaxing about waiting for a transfer or something that's out of my hands. Probably just me.
Public transportation is a socialist concept. If you have to ride public buses or trains, then the government gets to control where you can go and when you can go there. Americans lose more freedoms with public transportation.
Please tell me you are joking. The exact same thing can be said about roads. Also, who gives a damn if it's socialist? Enough with the socialism bogeyman, you sound like Sarah Palin.
Reppy wrote:
Public transportation is a socialist concept. If you have to ride public buses or trains, then the government gets to control where you can go and when you can go there. Americans lose more freedoms with public transportation.
Hey government haters, why don't we just make all roads private? Every single one?
telecommuting is the answer