Harry
Ted, all these things may or may not be true. But what is true that every singly time the car has come up against public transportation, the car has won.
This is exactly my point......we have to have what we want no matter the cost...and that cost is very high.
Even in Japan with a far better transportation system and shorter distances between cities has to subsidize it. Even in Britain, with a good transportation system and high gas costs, the car still wins.
We subsidize the airline industry....you don't think that the landing fees they pay are sufficient to cover the costs of operating terminals, maintaining the runways and paying for the expansion of these facilities every 10-15 years. And we have no problems coughing up the funds needed to maintain and expand our freeway systems.
Amtrak, the only national passenger rail service this country has, is desperately trying to go off subsidies by next year as mandated by Congress. Its a disgrace....one of the richest countries in the world and we can't afford the million dollars per year subsidy of its rail service.
Why not spend the money we would have spent on costly and little used public systems to finance alternative fuel cars, and expand the roads so cars are not stalled in traffic for hrs on end with the engine running. You seem to need high population densities to make public transportation pay off, but people are spreading out.
In part this is a fallacy...you need hi density for heavy rail aka subways; buses and light rail do fine in low density areas...two examples are San Diego and Portland, OR.
At the same time, cities are encouraging the development of higher densities around transportation nodes so that more people will be encouraged to use mass transit.
As for alternative cars, there has been little success with the batteries of electric cars. Current batteries weigh a ton and do not permit a lot of miles to be traveled between rechargings. Electric cars currently are the most advanced in their development....other solutions are very much at the embryonic stage, and not for a lack of funds...the problems are complicated and require new materials and inventions to work.
We like our nice big houses with manicured lawns. I like living in the country with a dog and the proverbial white picket fence. The car gives me that. We like our freedom to start work at different times, and the ability to go to the mall, and drive home with our purchases. The mom and pop grocery stores are history so driving to get groceries is a must. As a nation we will never go back.
You may be right but the consequences will be dear. We are losing farm land at a fast clip, the air in our cities stink (literally), road rage has reached monstrous proportions and in the last 10 years, asthma has become epidemic among children living in cities. There are serious costs to be paid in both lives (asthma kills) and $$$ due to our obsession with the car.
And to add insult to injury we are depleting the natual resources needed to feed this obsession and may be depriving future generations of these resources. Its too bad.
ted |
