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Originally Posted by roachboy
i am biker.
i get more worked up about people who talk on their fucking cellphones while they drive than anything else, and that mostly because they are a menace to folk like me.
the environmental impact of automobiles is a different matter...from time to time i get cranked up about that, but for the most part there seems no particular connection between the choices i make and those others make. what i mean by this is that i do not ride because i think i am maing a heroic contribution to reversing massive environmental damage: i ride because i enjoy riding. in general, i see the american transportation model as a blunder, not so much in itself, but more in terms of its side-effects--it is something that really should be rethought--but that is a political matter and no solution or reinforcement follows from the fact that i ride a bike.
i do, however, particularly enjoy riding critical mass because i like making the cars and their drivers, on their phones and not, wait.
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I enjoy riding as well and have missed it since being asked, for safety's sake, to give it up while the days are short and it gets dark early. I would also say that I ride because I enjoy it, while at the same time enjoying the health benefits, the money saved on gas, and whatever minuscule positive change it may affect for the environment in the larger picture.
I agree that the transportation situation in the US is a mess right now. As conspiratorial as it sounds (and may be), I remember hearing and reading from various sources about the auto and oil industries banding together earlier in the 20th century to derail municipal efforts to expand on intra- and inter-city rail transit options (pun intended, of course). What we're left with is lots of roads, sprawl, pedestrian- and bike-unfriendly communities and impractical and nonsensical public transit systems in dire need of makeovers, public support and customers.
What I wonder is, what could potentially spur a change, and whether/how many people are really open to it? If there eventually are more and better car-free options that don't involve convoluted routes, inconvenient schedules and unreasonable travel times, would that be appealing enough for more current drivers to leave their cars at home? Will it ever be considered a more desirable choice for someone who lives 30 to 40 miles away to commute via public transit if working infrastructure is developed? I would assume the demand needs to be there to jump start efforts toward improving the infrastructure, chicken and egg and all that.
Right now, my train route only runs three trains each day in either direction, and the commuter bus line doesn't offer many more trips. I have to be careful to leave on time, or else I'm stranded and need to call my partner to pick me up and drive me home. There isn't much of an advertising/marketing effort going towards encouraging more people to take the train, and many in the area don't know it exists. With a smaller customer base, obviously the transit administration doesn't see the need to run more trips on our line, but without more trips, will we ever have more customers? Maybe once gas hits $10 a gallon, but even then I wonder.