- Close to work, but not walkable or bikeable to anything else
- Walkable but not near a useful bus line
- Walkable and bus-able, but expensive
- Cheap but with no other redeeming qualities
- Practically perfect in all ways except no car-free ways to get to work
- A compromise that makes everywhere equally difficult to get to
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| Like this. On all the streets. NOW. Source: Joe Zlomek on freeimages.com. |
Not for the first time (or the last), I wish that US cities would try just a bit harder to make active transportation a practical reality for more people. Not just people who live downtown, or in a university district, or in gentrifying neighbourhoods (it's a common refrain in Austin that low-income and non-white neighbourhoods only get sidewalks when white people move in), but everywhere. I'll even wait on bike lanes if we can just get a sidewalk network built out. Come on, y'all, get with the program.
And in the meantime, I'm seeing how the puzzle pieces fit together best for me.
Too many choices AND, way too few. I wish you well.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your heart for the underprivileged in the midst of your options.
I completely understand, but having lived in NYC and used the public transit all the time, there's a cost to everything. (Taxes--whew!) It might be better to own a car. And let's not forget when public transit fails. There were times when people got stuck on the subway train for upwards of 3 hours while they tried to get it repaired. Once, for 8 hours in a heatwave! Still, it would be nice to walk the 1/2 mile to a subway stop and head straight in to any local attraction.
ReplyDeleteI have always bemoaned the fact that I MUST own a car. I'd much rather it be like it is in England where I don't really need to drive. Good luck!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sidewalklabs.com
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame about the lack of busing. Maybe you'd be able to find some way to carpool? It's a possibility at least.
ReplyDeleteI never stop being amazed at the topics that bring on the comments.
ReplyDelete@Sharlan: If you're going to be an advocate, you have to be an advocate for everybody. If not, there's a different word for what you're doing.
@Crystal: Yep, public services cost $$. But outside of NYC, cities tend to allocate a disproportionate amount to building yet another highway lane--a strategy we know for sure doesn't work--instead of toward solutions that might reduce congestion. I hear ya on the subway breaking down, though--that's the worst. A week before I went to NYC last summer, there was a 2-hour breakdown on matinee day at the theatres. Lots of held curtains and some folks (performers and audience) still missed their shows. I was praying that wouldn't happen when I was in town. (It didn't.)
@Joy: Yes. Or basically anywhere else.
@Phil: That's fantastic.
@JE: I'm hoping. That would be great.