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On my way to work today on the 83, this lady and I struck up a conversation. She opened up to me about how she lost her job nine months ago, which lead to her losing her car and her home. Today, she claimed, was the second week that she was using public transportation, and she found its relative ease and reliability to be a pleasant surprise. She finally found a part-time job very close to her apartment, where she only needs to take one bus to get there. She went on to say that she may never get a car again because she finds that everything she now needs to do is either within walking distance of her new, much smaller dwelling or on a bus line.
About a month earlier, one of my coworkers' wives got laid off, and she ended up divorcing him and running off with another and wealthier man. He had to sell his car for a quick infusion of cash to off-set his income to take care of some pressing financial obligations, which meant he had to bike and bus to work. Turns out, he actually loves it. He said after, his wife's betrayal, he started to look at life differently and he had begun a life of reflection and soul-searching, if you will. According to him, biking and busing around town to get to work and such, help him to do just that.
It is interesting how public transportation, which is often derided as being insufficient -- though in many cases it is -- has come through for people when they need it most. Could you just imagine those who live in towns, villages and cities all across this country where public transportation is non-existent? If they are faced with similar situations as my friends above, what will be their recourse? I shudder to think of it.
About a month earlier, one of my coworkers' wives got laid off, and she ended up divorcing him and running off with another and wealthier man. He had to sell his car for a quick infusion of cash to off-set his income to take care of some pressing financial obligations, which meant he had to bike and bus to work. Turns out, he actually loves it. He said after, his wife's betrayal, he started to look at life differently and he had begun a life of reflection and soul-searching, if you will. According to him, biking and busing around town to get to work and such, help him to do just that.
It is interesting how public transportation, which is often derided as being insufficient -- though in many cases it is -- has come through for people when they need it most. Could you just imagine those who live in towns, villages and cities all across this country where public transportation is non-existent? If they are faced with similar situations as my friends above, what will be their recourse? I shudder to think of it.
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Miami
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Tue, October 13, 2009 - 9:23 PMBut in the city of Detroit, it seem that too many people are so car-obsessed that they'll never give up their motor vehicles no matter how expensive they are to maintain. Yet it's been said that Detroit has among the highest unemployment rates in the U.S. -
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Wed, October 14, 2009 - 11:09 AMPockets of South Florida have pretty high unemployment, as well. There are neighborhoods in portions of the city of Miami that have unemployment rates as high as33%! And that was before the so-called economic meltdown. Yikes!
Miami is a big car town, too, but because of our huge influxes of poorer Latin-American and Caribbean peoples, public transportation is also quite popular. Amongst the poorer, American-born, public transportation usage is high, as well. Florida is notorious for low pay, so many inner-city families find car ownership too expensive and, thus, rely on public transit. This is particularly true of South Florida.
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Wed, October 14, 2009 - 7:29 AMFor those of us with access to public transportation, the ability to rely on it is taken for granted. When circumstances force ( for some) the use of PubTrans, it can be a pleasant surprise. Often,it is a shock how much the system does not work for them. Unless you live in a major metro area that has made a commitment to PT,cars are the defacto transportation.
Preaching to choir here,but if you consider the plus side of PT, you might consider the benefits to be economical, community building, ecological,and if things work well, convenience. The convenience aspect trumps most folks decision making.
I recently read that when calculating trip time, most folks consistenlty underestimated the time it takes to drive to a destination and dramatically overestimated the time to use PT. In fact, our city has an annual 'race' from one place to the next, where the bicycle usually beats everyone, and the bus or LRT beats the car. I doubt it affects anyones decision making, as there is a cultural expectation that 'by gosh, I NEED to have a car..."
I was infuriated by Congress's insistance on the auto industry bailout and 'cash for clunkers'. That same money invested in inter city high speed rail or PubTrans infrastucture improvements would have yielded much better results for the economy than what we got. Indeed, helping some cities that haven't made the investment in PubTrans actually would have had much better long term benefit for those cities. Smaller cities and regions need some loving too. A recent trip through the 13 western states shows how reliant ( or enslaved) the population is on the car.
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Wed, October 14, 2009 - 11:04 AMIndeed, Joe. What continue to frustrate me are policy makers and think tanks who consistently claim that car ownership is the "natural" choice for Americans and that efforts to change behavior is "unnatural" and trumping people's freedoms. What makes that standpoint ridiculous is that you have everyone paying into a system that grossly favors the automobile, so if I am a bicyclist or pedestrian/public transit user, aren't my freedoms, then, being trumped when I have to wait while 15 cars run the light while I'm waiting to cross a busy intersection, or when my tax dollars have to be used to subsidize motorists who are not insured and who get into accidents, or when highways are installed that I, as a bicyclist/pedestrian will use quite rarely, unless I'm taking the Express or intercity bus (which wouldn't be needed in the first place if there weren't highways, lol)?
Like you, I know I'm preaching to the choir, but the fact of the matter is that people choose the automobile not because they necessarily think it's better but because public transportation is so grossly underfunded and vested. And, as you've alluded, there is a perception problem.
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Thu, October 15, 2009 - 4:59 PMThe economic stimulus going to Amtrak is basically a great idea except that its real success will rely on other forms of public transportation linking to it, ie, local bus, light rail, etc. A person may ride the commuter bus to Amtrak, while another will for employment and a third for shopping, sightseeing, etc. -
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Sat, October 17, 2009 - 7:42 AMAmen, Mike. Most rail systems are under-used for that very reason, i.e.: lack of integration with other modes. For example, a Tri-Rail station that is a mere 2.7 miles from my apartment, and thus, perfectly accessible by bicycle, and even on foot (I'm a huge fan of walking, lol), is completely severed from both those modes of movement because of -- you guessed it -- highways. The 826 (the Palmetto Expressway), I-75 and I-95 dice and splice across each other with the trainstation/bus depot in the middle of the mess, and only accessible by motorized transport. It would take a dedicated bicyclist to ride through a six-mile detour to get the station. Can you say, poor design?
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Sat, October 17, 2009 - 5:32 PMAlso many employers do not realize the tax benefits of supporting their employees who use PT. I agree with Joe about the Cash for clunkers. I have seen full sized vans and mini vans traded under this program that could be used for vanpooling but under the program's "rules" their engines must be disabled. There are areas of the U.S. where shift workers would love to ride PT but a full sized bus
would not be justified but a van would be. I believe that smaller communities are at a disadvantage with Pub Trans. -
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Sun, October 18, 2009 - 10:51 AMOh yes, Mike. Smaller communities do suffer. My brother and sister-in-law along with their three children live in a medium-sized city on the Central East Coast of Florida, referred to as the Space Coast, as the Kennedy Space Station is relatively close by. The county does have a transit system, but because of lack of planning, everything's so spread out that it is virtually useless because a trip from their home to the near by grocery store that should be a 10-minute ride by car, takes about 45 minutes by bus because buses has to weasel their way through little crevices and streets in far-flung neighborhoods. Also, aside from California, Florida is "gated-community" central. This makes it even harder, as one would have to walk sometimes 15 to 20 minutes to get to a bus stop. The one good thing (and that's tenuous at best) is that they have bike paths every where, and people do use them, particularly during the cooler 'winter' months. -
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Mon, October 19, 2009 - 3:12 PMwould bike parking ( secure,visibly located cluster of bike racks) close to the transit stop be a partial,doable solution? If I have a 15 minute walk from the bus stop to my house, it probably is a 4 minute bike ride. Which would make using transit more doable. Many cities also have installed bike racks on busses which helps,as you can ride from the destination bus stop to your final destination. Many transit agencies have applied and received federal transportation grants to pay for these racks,which ultimately improve ridership and make public transit more 'do-able'.
often,small improvements such as bike corrals and bus bike racks end up making a transit system more used,and ultimately, more valued. -
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Re: Public Transit Filling the Gap in Failing Economy
Wed, October 21, 2009 - 5:17 PMThere would be nothing to lose and everything to gain by using bike racks near the bus stop and /or on the buses. It's definetly doable.
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