Quote:
|
Originally Posted by smharr4
I'm from the UK, so I'm probably biased but I think that mass transit works - when I was living and working in London I didn't own a car, and I managed with the above-ground trains south of the river (where I lived and worked), or the tube when north.
In Seattle, they're converting the three-stop underground bus tunnel into light rail, with one station just one block from my office downtown. If they'd connect central Kitsap county to it, I'd take that light rail in a heartbeat.
There were plenty of small cars in the UK/Europe that are coming over here. I saw a couple of Toyota Yaris' (one of the cars that we were also considering, but went for the Honda Fit as mentioned above), and when mentioning to my relatives that I had a 'small 2.8 liter' engine, some of them revealed that they had 1000cc engines in their cars.
|
Mass transit works in Europe because everything is so close together AND its something everybody wants. But your Seattle example is already qualified with an IF. Same as my experience: IF only the trains were more reliable, IF they were less crowded, IF it went where I wanted to go, IF they maintained the air conditioning, IF it didn't cost me $1200 bucks a year for this priviledge (thats with employee subsidies). The DC metro is supposed to be one of the best systems in the country, but its design is outdated and replacing it is out of the question due to cost. If I never hear the ding-dong door closing chime again while jammed between someones briefcase and some fat woman's elbow, its fine by me! Yes we have lack of commitment to real mass transit. In reality, a step by step approach is needed, and the first step is to turn all those SUV behemoths into flower planters ASAP.