- 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.
6 comments:
Too many choices AND, way too few. I wish you well.
I 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.
I 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!
https://www.sidewalklabs.com
It'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.
I never stop being amazed at the topics that bring on the comments.
@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.
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