15_the_circle | dumping the pump / trying transit

[OT from cottage renovations]
[crossposed from carfree]

interesting to see this one-off transit awareness promotion getting plenty of buzz in a lot of places. not everybody is well situated to make effective use of transit but it's a good way to get folks at least thinking about options.

Monday provided an interesting case-in-point out here in auto-dependent California. having come upon a short-notice need to get from Roseville CA to Sacramento for a meeting, I set off for the trip. two bus-to-bus and one bus-to-light-rail transfers later (each mode and carrier requiring a separate cash fare, exact change of course) I covered about 18 linear (crow's flight) miles in a bit over 2½ hours. the connections worked reasonably well, much of that time was incurred by circuitous routes. the return trip was a single hop on a regional Amtrak train that's in effect a commuter train. travel time: 22 minutes (door-to-door was a bit longer than that if one includes walking over to the station to catch the train, even so for that time of day it was faster than any other mode short of a personal jet pack). the train was packed, and many of the riders were making use of onboard bicycle racks for their own intermodal connections.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

George,
Too bad you don't know my first youngest brother Michael. He lives in Granite Bay, just next to Roseville. As I recall he commutes by call, as an ER doc he has funny hours.

Enjoy your stay in the central valley! Rudi

Try living in the more rural areas, where busses and Bart systems aren't even an option. And I can't pick up kids from school or go grocery shopping for my family of 4 on a bike....especially when you live miles out of town.

So when people snap at me for being frustrated about the gas prices, and say to me, take public transportation or ride your bike, I tell them that not everyone lives in areas where those options are available to them.

exactly.
that's why the entry started with "not everybody is well situated to make effective use of transit" for the simple reason that for many folks it isn't a viable option. on the other hand there are some for whom it is, or might be, but they just haven't had a chance to become aware of it. that's what these campaigns are all about.

I understand what you mean, it's great that they are making people aware of what is available to them....

people who live way out in the boonies somewhere really can't expect to ever have good public transit in their area - there are just not enough riders out there to support it, and people in general do not want to pay higher taxes for it either.

people in this country overall want to have their cake and eat it too - they want low taxes AND they want the government to give them all kinds of services AND they want to be able to wage war whenever they please to the tune of billions and billions of dollars for years on end.

and they want to live way out in the boonies and have an express bus or train nearby that will take them wherever they want, quick and cheap.

in europe they pay MUCH higher gas taxes, like $4 on an $8 gallon of petrol, and they have great trains and subways and bus systems.

if americans would like to pay $8 a gallon for gas and have half that money go to public transit sytems, that would be great - but i think the world will come to an end before most americans are willing to get out of their cars and onto a train or bus, and definitely it will end before they want to pay $8 a gallon and hae half that be a transit tax.

I'm confused Judy...where in my response did I say I expected anything from the government? When did I say I wanted the government to give me anything?....I don't see that anywhere in my post. Please don't put words in my mouth and don't assume EVERYONE who lives in the country expects anything that you describe. You have absolutely no idea what I am thinking or what others who live in the country think. All I said is I don't have the options that others do, my frustration isn't in that fact, it lies with people who and get snippy with me because I don't use options that aren't at my disposal. I am really quite aware of why we don't have said options in the first place.

This is a response from me...sorry for the Anonymous user...I wasn't logged in...

dumping the pump / trying transit

Roseville

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re: not everyone lives in areas where those options are available

Re: not everyone lives in areas where those options are available

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no subject

P.S.