dagblog - Comments for "Free Transit and Slugging"

Or if you just want to make

acanuck — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 21:17:53 +0000

Or if you just want to make public transit more convenient, stick an interactive GPS on each bus or tram, and let would-be passengers instantly and accurately detect where the next one is on a route and when it will arrive.

I would expect that most

Donal — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:29:16 +0000

In reply to In Michigan we have free car

I would expect that most people having cell phones would make the day-to-day organizing of a carpool much easier. For that matter, it would be great to have a smart phone app that told told the bus or van or car pool driver that you needed a ride, and told the passengers when the bus or van or car was actually coming.

In Michigan we have free car

Ramona — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:33:42 +0000

In reply to Free Transit and Slugging

In Michigan we have free car pool lots all over the state. They're in the most populous counties, of course, but they work just as well in the out-counties where people have to drive greater distances to work. Where I live, many people have a 50-60 mile commute or more. They park their cars in the free lots (sometimes just a pull-off on the side of the road, but marked with state signs) and take turns driving to the "city".

Detroit has a pathetic and shameful rapid transit system, mainly because of the power of the auto companies. They thwarted any transportation that didn't involve single cars coming off of their assembly lines. I keep waiting for some enlightenment there, but none is forthcoming, so car-pooling is about as close as we can get to dealing with too many cars, too much pollution.

I think one of the major road

Beetlejuice — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:02:12 +0000

In reply to Free Transit and Slugging

I think one of the major road blocks for cooperative mass transit is convenience:

How far must one walk to a rail station or bus stop?
Are they covered to protect one from the weather?
Is there enough room for everyone?
Is there a schedule to let one know when the train or bus arrives and in which direction?
Is there an accurate clock there as well?

But this would be a cost to be factored into the price of a rail or bus pass. Also, there needs to be security. Here's an article about a person getting beaten in a U-Bahn metro station in Berlin:

url : http://www.thelocal.de/opinion/20110228-33397.html

Ticketing is another issue too. I remember back in the 90's I needed to use the bus system because of a broken leg...I couldn't drive. However, I was able to pick up a bus pass at a 7-11 for anywhere from 1 day to 30 days at a cost far less than if I paid every time I used a bus. But how much cheaper would it be if both the price for fuel and the ridership both increase?

Finally, there's the issue can I get from home to work in a reasonable time? When one considers having to wait for the first bus, then getting to a transfer point before the other bus you need leaves and then walking the final leg, would it be faster and easier to just drive and put up with the traffic? I remember back in the 80's using the bus system in San Diego. It was excellent! The busses ran very close to the schedule and you could go just about anywhere in the area for loose pocket change. Unfortunately, you had to go to the city center in most cases to get a transfer to another route. Sometimes you were lucky and could catch a ride on a lateral route. However, I was using the bus more as a tourist than a working stiff so I had no idea if it was a viable alternative to driving.

What it all boils down to there would have to be a lot of costs added into the price of a ticket to make people feel secure of their person and possessions if ridership increases. So can the cost and inconvenience overcome the urge for someone to make the break?

been there, done that, no big

Beetlejuice — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:20:35 +0000

In reply to And my god, some people

been there, done that, no big deal. And yeah it was fun, except when it rained or was freezing cold or both.

the people doing the

jollyroger — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 03:51:57 +0000

In reply to Thanks for the Free Transit

the people doing the switching.

Considering that the congestion reducing switch they are making is out of beaters, you'd think the aesthetic improvement alone would motivate the ruling class to get behind this. They won't have to look at my 86 F150 anymore.

Annnnnd (so on)":So on":You

jollyroger — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 03:49:09 +0000

In reply to Thanks for the Free Transit

Annnnnd (so on)

":So on":You can occasionally catch some new pussy offa public transit, whereas the chances are that any pussy in your private vehicle is not new pussy, and may already be alienated pussy...

Thanks for the Free Transit

quinn esq — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:18:38 +0000

In reply to Free Transit and Slugging

Thanks for the Free Transit pitch, and links - I've been banging on this one for years, and this has been a timely reminder to me to push it again!

The "benefits" list though, is a bit too short, and I think a bit of the purism of the transit activists is leaking over the wrecking their case - something I have found before on this front. See, the people who shift from cars to transit are beneficiaries, but maybe not the biggest ones. For instance, they will tend to be people who are squeezed for dollars, right? So they'll save some cash, but put up with more inconvenience.

However, it's the OTHER DRIVERS who stand to "save" the greatest cash value. If you can hoover even 10% of the drivers off the road, the congestion benefits, in time saved alone, are mammoth. And for higher income drivers, the value they place on their time is enormous. Someone making $500 a day, for instance, is going to value the time saved at amounts almost certainly larger than the cash savings of the people doing the switching.

So.... we should get off the purism and just bloody RECOMMEND this shift.

There's also an enormous benefit to the local economy. The families making the shift have greater disposable income, and the overall local economy has more cash banging around inside the jar (since running transit systems is cheaper than cars.) Annnnnd so on.

BTW, "free" stuff is really really great, and we greens need to unlearn some of the tripe that got shoved down our throats these past decades, where everybody became a wannabe economist, and pushed to have things priced, and to use "market mechanisms." Transit should be like education and medicine. Free. Full stop.

Well, this morning my wife

Donal — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:28:56 +0000

In reply to Notice that Bus Rapid Transit

Well, this morning my wife dropped me off, and we pulled into the station just as the train was rolling in. I was able to jump out of the car and into an open doorway in less than thirty seconds. And a gaggle of bus riders were hot on my heels. BRT seems to promise better suspension instead of steel tracks. I wonder how the costs compare.

My personal dream for the

EmmaZahn — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:23:53 +0000

In reply to Free Transit and Slugging

My personal dream for the future of transit is a hybrid: A mini maglev propelling small programmable-to-destination electric vehicles on existing roadways. Electricity usage would be metered to each vehicle. The best of many worlds: personal space and schedules without having to drive but able to when necessary or desired (in separate lanes, of course).

There could be a free base usage subsidy allowance per person per month or year, surplus marketable, of course.

Yes, electricity production in as many ways as possible is the future.