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An article over at Motherboard covers the growing inequities in the US resulting from the cultivation of individualized transport options.
Carsharing, ridesharing, ride-hailing, public transit, and cycling—"all of those things are needed to replace personal cars," said [Robin Chase, co-founder of Zipcar].
It's a nice idea, but to actually kill car ownership, we're first going to need to have some very uncomfortable conversations about class and equity in the United States. Public transit used to be the great equalizer, but affordable private rides have become the new favorite of the middle class. When richer people give their money to private ride-hailing or carsharing companies, public transit loses money—and that's not good for cities, societies, or the environment.
[...] This dependence on ride-hailing is having the adverse effect of increasing traffic congestion, which in turn makes bus service slower and more frustrating. Besides, until cities change dramatically—i.e. more parks, fewer parking lots, less sprawl, better accommodations for active and public transit—decreased rates of car ownership likely won't benefit the environment if we're still travelling the same distances in cars.
Those living in countries that still have good or remnants of good mass transit will have different insights. It is unlikely that without good, reliable, vast public transit networks, there will be social and economic equity, assuming that is a goal. While public transit can suck, especially in the US, it is sometimes necessary to take one for the team and vote with your wallet. Unfortunately the situation is often framed as a false dilemma, that there can only be private cars or only mass transit, but not both coexisting and used for different ends at different times by the same people.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Snotnose on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:24AM (9 children)
I live a block from a bus stop, where the bus shows up I think 4 times a day. To get to work would take 2.5 hours. Getting home is the same. Driving in rush hour traffic is 30-45 minutes, I get to choose my music, and don't have to deal with my fellow stinky passengers. Oh yeah, can't have food nor drink on the bus. And the bus is in the same rush hour traffic I'm stuck in.
Guess I could take the trolley, got a stop 2-3 miles from home. It will take me downtown, where I pick up an Amtrak to head to work. Too bad I'm now 2-3 miles from work. Total time each way is around 90 minutes. Again, no food or drink.
In both cases, if I'm 5 minutes late on either end it takes hours for the next bus, and 15-20 minutes for the trolley. Except the last Amtrak taking me from work to downtown runs at 6 PM, miss that and I either taxi home or sleep in my office.
Move closer to work? Twice the rent for a place half as nice. Move to Chicago/New York/somewhere with transit? Yeah, no. I like it here.
It's been some 10 years since I looked into it, but from what I read in the paper the bus service has only gone downhill (less frequent stops, more $$$ to ride).
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @02:14AM (2 children)
Bitch, bitch, bitch! Perhaps I could interest you in a Final Solution?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Snotnose on Wednesday February 14 2018, @02:20AM (1 child)
Do I get a Countdown?
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Wednesday February 14 2018, @06:08AM
Oh, dude, conflating "The Final Countdown" with the "Final Solution" is just like when Obama said, about Congress, "It's not like I can do a Jedi Mind Meld on them!" Never cross the streams! Never! It's a goddamned paradox, Louise!
No one remembers this movie? Ah, just as well. http://www.badmovies.org/movies/millennium/ [badmovies.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Wednesday February 14 2018, @04:17AM (1 child)
Wherever it is that you live, it's likely that you can thank Robert Moses [wikipedia.org] or one of his many disciples for shortchanging your area by only building roads and not including decent rail systems.
And when you're done venting your rage on that crowd, get on your local public officials (both elected and appointed) for not creating decent public transportation. Hell, I bet there isn't even a safe bicycle route for you either.
You may like where you live (and that's great), but you've been let down by those who built, planned and (claim to) maintain it. That's a shame.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday February 14 2018, @04:12PM
And when you're done venting your rage on that crowd, get on your local public officials (both elected and appointed) for not creating decent public transportation. Hell, I bet there isn't even a safe bicycle route for you either.
You may like where you live (and that's great), but you've been let down by those who built, planned and (claim to) maintain it. That's a shame.
It's just another example of my favorite saying, "every nation gets the government it deserves". It extends to municipalities too. The public transit there (and probably bicycle lanes too) sucks because the people who live there suck and don't demand it of their leaders.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @04:18AM
What's the route number?
To get to work would take 2.5 hours
What's the major cross-street near your departure point?
What's the major cross-street near your destination?
Does that require a transfer? What route number?
Be prepared to be fact-checked. [sdmts.com]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday February 14 2018, @09:00AM (2 children)
You know they have things called headphones, right? You can choose your own music on public transit anywhere, now. Also, when you're on transit you can read, watch videos, play a game to unwind, etc. When you're driving, you frickin' better not be doing any of those things.
Now, 2.5 hours vs 30-45 minutes is a deal breaker. Nobody would choose that time difference unless they had no other choice. But then, that's why in many places people choose homes and apartments based on proximity to light rail and other transit options that would not incur that kind of differential.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Wednesday February 14 2018, @02:51PM (1 child)
In the big city nearby that will get you mugged, maybe raped if you're a woman. Its a location with a higher than normal qty of dangerous people and diversity means no social cohesion to look out for you, so pay attention to stay out of trouble. Nah I wouldn't jog thru the inner city at night and I wouldn't take a bus thru with headphones on either. Maybe if I were in the back seat?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:34PM
It sounds like you haven't lived in the big city much. Commuting to work on mass transit is safe, because you're surrounded by others. So of course it's safe to put headphones on and listen to music or podcasts. It's even safe to ride the bus or subway during the day pretty much wherever you are, because we find ourselves in a different world now than we did in the 70's.
Now, if you want to take transit at 3am then you have to be a little more discerning. Some parts of a city are inadvisable, travelling alone as a single woman is not advisable. But then, those things are also true if you're driving and going into parking garages.
Different cities are different, too. NYC's system is pretty steadily used 24 hours a day. In Chicago, however, you'd be nuts to ride transit in the middle of the night on the South Side. If you live in a city, it doesn't take long to figure out where the safer places are, and where the sketchier places are.
I'd further note that rural parts of the country are not the crime-free havens they once were, thanks to the meth epidemic and general economic distress.
Washington DC delenda est.