Friday, December 23, 2005
Traffic calming plague spreads across the land
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, traffic calming was invented in the Netherlands in the 1960s. Today this blatantly anti-auto program is being applied all over the United States.
"Tinicum Township in Bucks County also recently converted a paved road to gravel," says this article. "That's traffic calming." That's something we can do without.
Traffic calmers say they are trying to make streets for people, not cars. But every single car you see on the road has a person in it who is going somewhere important to them. That is more than can be said for many transit vehicles.
"Tinicum Township in Bucks County also recently converted a paved road to gravel," says this article. "That's traffic calming." That's something we can do without.
Traffic calmers say they are trying to make streets for people, not cars. But every single car you see on the road has a person in it who is going somewhere important to them. That is more than can be said for many transit vehicles.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Trolleys may be jolly, say Minneapolis officials
Minneapolis wants to bring back trolleys.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Reason #42 not to ride transit
Santa Claus was taking transit to work today when his train derailed. But don't worry, the train was only going 10 miles per hour so neither Santa nor his elves were hurt. Ten miles per hour? His sleigh would have been faster.
Santa is not a regular commuter, but Portland commuters who depend on light rail had their trips disrupted yesterday due to weather. Freezing rain on the overhead electrical lines prevented cars from getting power. This caused a train to get stuck at 7 am, blocking tracks and shutting down service for nearly five hours. In contrast, the ice caused only three out of 525 buses to get stuck, though the chains the buses used forced them to drive slower and fall behind their schedules.
Santa is not a regular commuter, but Portland commuters who depend on light rail had their trips disrupted yesterday due to weather. Freezing rain on the overhead electrical lines prevented cars from getting power. This caused a train to get stuck at 7 am, blocking tracks and shutting down service for nearly five hours. In contrast, the ice caused only three out of 525 buses to get stuck, though the chains the buses used forced them to drive slower and fall behind their schedules.
Reason #43 Not to Ride Transit
Why don't more Americans ride transit? I've already pointed out two reasons on this list: Transit leaves people vulnerable to inane transit agency rules (reason #45) and intrusive federal security guards (reason #44). Today, New York illustrates another reason: becoming dependent on transit leaves you vulnerable to transit unions, even if transit strkes are supposed to be illegal.
In most American cities, transit strikes are not very disruptive. Many transit riders have access to cars and so few people ride transit, even in Boston and San Francisco, that a transit strike would add little traffic to the highways. Not so in New York, which sprawl opponents celebrate as the most transit-dependent city in the United States. Nearly two-thirds of the commuters in Manhattan, more than half of the commuters city-wide, and nearly 30 percent of commuters in the entire urban area ride transit to work.
To prevent even worse-than-normal congestion, New York City has prohibited cars from entering Manhattan between 5 and 11 am unless they have four people or more in them. Predictably, this led to a huge rush of traffic between 4 and 5 am as people tried to beat the deadline.
The first lesson for other American cities is: don't aspire to become as transit-dependent as New York. The larger lesson is: as long as transit riders are vulnerable to strikes, officious guards, and stupid transit rules, don't expect that spending a few billion dollars on rail transit will attract many people to give up the freedom they enjoy in their automobiles.
In most American cities, transit strikes are not very disruptive. Many transit riders have access to cars and so few people ride transit, even in Boston and San Francisco, that a transit strike would add little traffic to the highways. Not so in New York, which sprawl opponents celebrate as the most transit-dependent city in the United States. Nearly two-thirds of the commuters in Manhattan, more than half of the commuters city-wide, and nearly 30 percent of commuters in the entire urban area ride transit to work.
To prevent even worse-than-normal congestion, New York City has prohibited cars from entering Manhattan between 5 and 11 am unless they have four people or more in them. Predictably, this led to a huge rush of traffic between 4 and 5 am as people tried to beat the deadline.
The first lesson for other American cities is: don't aspire to become as transit-dependent as New York. The larger lesson is: as long as transit riders are vulnerable to strikes, officious guards, and stupid transit rules, don't expect that spending a few billion dollars on rail transit will attract many people to give up the freedom they enjoy in their automobiles.
