In article , B2431
writes
From: Stephen Harding

snip

There are people spending 4 hours or more in their cars for round trip
commutes
to work!

snip

It never ceases to amaze me how some people would rather spend hours in their
own vehicle rather that 30 minutes in public transport. A rather extreme
example of this lunacy was seen after the last Los Angeles earthquake. The
trains were used almost to capacity for a few days then usage dropped rapidly
to near prequake level. People living outside the city simply preferred sitting
in their own vehicles for hours.

The opposite also applies. I live outside London, and used to use public
transport to get to work. The trip took 80 minutes on a good day,
including 10 minutes walk to my local station. I had to change trains
twice, which meant standing on a freezing cold platform in wintertime,
and sweating unbelievably on the underground in summer. Overcrowding was
a daily occurrence all year round. Any train problems meant
unpredictable delays.
Add to that the fact that I had to pay around GBP 1000 for the privilege
(we are talking the late 80's here), plus being 6'6" and 18 stone (250
pounds) meant comfort wasn't something I found too often.

I changed jobs and drove 35 miles each way every day, which took 40
minutes on average, as I was going the opposite way to the London-bound
traffic. No more colds, no more cracking vertebrae from sitting on
unsuitable seats, no more standing with a crick in my neck. And the
company paid the petrol (there was a tax liability, though).

It just goes to show how false generalisations can be.

There are areas in the U.S. where the infrastructure MUST be built to the point
where the majority of travel is done by public transport. Southern California,
NYC etc come to mind. The pollution, damage to the environment etc is un
healthy. The time spent commuting could be spent with family. The net reduction
of petroleum products import would more than enough to justify realignment.

I am not saying confiscation of vehicles is the way to go, but putting major
parts of metropolitan areas off limits to noncommercial and nonpuplic transport
shout work nicelly.

The hard part is getting politicians willing to be voted out of office.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

--
Peter

Ying tong iddle-i po!