May 22, 2008
AND SO DOES SOCIETY BEGIN TO REKNIT ITSELF:
LA workers swap cars for subway (David Willis, 5/22/08, BBC News)
In Los Angeles, the rising price of petrol is prompting people to travel to work by train rather than by car. According to figures from the city's subway system, the number of passengers increased by more than 14% in the first three months of 2008.I am going to let you in on a little secret, but promise me please you will not breathe a word, otherwise I may never be able to show my face in certain parts of this town again.
This week I did something which - in nearly 10 years of living in Los Angeles - I have never, ever done before.
Cue the drum roll: I travelled to work on the subway. [...]
Sitting next to me was accountant Chris Peterson, who said he liked the subway because you could always get a seat. Which didn't come as a surprise to either of us, since, aside from not really going anywhere, the network's other failing seems to be a chronic lack of self promotion.
Chris said he had only just discovered there was a subway system in LA - and he has lived here for 30 years.
Part of the psyche
As we arrived in Hollywood, I got chatting with Bradley Chapman, who makes those life-sized cardboard cut-outs of movie stars which cinemas use to promote their films. Like Chris, he had recently taken to the subway because he could no longer afford the price of petrol.
Bradley's new commute is the antithesis of the LA norm. As well as taking the train, another part of his journey actually involves putting one foot in front of the other, a heretical notion that simply will never catch on.
Such re-engagement with fellow citzens is symptomatic of train travel.
You have to use gas taxes to keep the freeways clear though, lest they become an attractive nuisance as delays go down.
Orrin,
My metro area's transit district would like to put a little monkey wrench into the idea of "re-engagement" with my fellow citizens:
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_9330987
One of the proposed cuts involves ceasing an entire light rail line:)
Posted by: Brad S at May 22, 2008 7:48 AMHave you ever even ridden on a subway, say in NY or LA, oj? Interactions there are the furthest thing from socialization imaginable. A crowded NY subway is the loneliest place on the planet. Just looking another person in the eye is a big no-no. At least in cars we make hand gestures to one another. Maybe the metro-north is different, but enough about this mythical underground utopia on tracks already.
(though I do prefer the train to driving when I'm in a city where it is possible, but it’s for the convenience, not the socializing.
I rode a bus every day for a number of years and I don't remember it being at all like "It Happened One Night." Mostly people just read their books or looked out the window and tried to ignore the requisite crazy guy. I'm sure many Chicagoans still talk about the hairy loon who kept trying to bond with them on the bus.
Anyway, here's a simple primer for OrrinThink:
Getting crammed into a Tokyo subway with 200 other people: Yay, you're sharing in the camaraderie and fellowship of your fellow man! Huzzah!
Taking a car trip with your family: You anti-human monster!
No, it doesn't make any sense to me, either but like most Liberals, Orrin functions purely on feminine emotion. Orrin isn't fond of cars, therefore all cars are evil. Orrin likes trains, so all trains are good and if you dare disagree, you're some kind of evil creature from beyond the moon. It's odd that he isn't a bigger supporter of Obama.
It's just good that most people operate on a more rational level than Orrin or we'd all be commuting to work in P-51 Mustangs or Voltron Lions. That would be awesome, but impractical, just like forcing everyone in the world to take the train.
This article is garbage. LA DOESN'T have a "subway." It has a metro train system that has a few short sections underground. It is also completely and utterly useless for 99% of people who live there. Its sole purpose is to get people into a small downtown region along a few main arteries. For a city that is pretty much as big as the entire state of New Hampshire, it's not now nor will it ever be a feasible alternative to the freeway system.
Posted by: b at May 22, 2008 11:06 AMHave you ever even ridden on a subway, say in NY or LA, oj?
I think the name "Time Zone Boy" helps answer that question.
Like all typical Leftist social engineers, he's wildly enthusiastic about an abstraction, while at the same time staying as far as possible from any attempt at an implementation, or its consequences.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at May 22, 2008 12:15 PMBryan: I'd support any level of gas taxes that oj wants if it means I could commute to work in a Voltron lion.
Posted by: b at May 22, 2008 12:26 PMI had to stop taking the El in Chicago because I fell asleep and woke up in Evanston or the South Side. Walked instead.
Posted by: oj at May 22, 2008 2:42 PMBrad:
Good policy if they couple it with gas hikes on a suddenly captive populace.
Posted by: oj at May 22, 2008 2:46 PMOh god, commuting in a Voltron Lion is the greatest idea I have ever heard in my entrire life!
Begin 3 hour daydream..... NOW!
Posted by: Benny at May 22, 2008 2:55 PMOrrin,
A gas tax hike would have to go to a vote of the people in my state. Howsabout you try to sell that to folks?
And the idea that there is a suddenly captive audience in metro Denver due to these cutbacks is laughable. RTD, even with ridership increases, only serves about 2.5% of daily commuters. About 30% of those don't even pay for the service; they ride a free shuttle bus that goes up and down the 16th Street Mall in the downtown area.
Posted by: Brad S at May 22, 2008 3:50 PMI'm not sure how you can square your love of public transport for your hatred of cities. Outside of dense concentrations of population, the cost of mass transit becomes far too expensive.
Posted by: Ali Choudhury at May 22, 2008 7:01 PMMass transit is like the monorail at Disney. It takes you into the park in the morning and back to where you live at night.
It enables people to not live in cities but in Westchester County.
Posted by: oj at May 22, 2008 7:52 PMGas tax hikes aren't hard to pass.
Posted by: oj at May 22, 2008 7:55 PM