As I think I might have mentioned, we need a revolution in how we get around in this country, and we need it yesterday. Instead of doing something about it, our elected officials, including those who claim to understand the urgency, are doubling down on car infrastructure, ensuring that our children and grandchildren will continue […]
As a veteran bus rider, I have had to deal with my share of unpleasant travel experiences. Like most sane people, I dislike bad bus rides. But—and I preface this comment by acknowledging that I have a rather unconventional world view—for me, it is often the “unpleasant” bus experiences that reinforce everything I love about […]
The Culture of the Automobile and its Effect on Our Lives What: An SDOT-sponsored talk by Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez, authors of the recently released Carjacked. Here’s a synopsis of the book: Carjacked is an in-depth look at our obsession with cars. While the automobile’s contribution to global warming and the effects of […]
VAUBAN, Germany — Residents of this upscale community are suburban pioneers, going where few soccer moms or commuting executives have ever gone before: they have given up their cars. Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the French and Swiss borders. Vauban’s […]
Transportation Freedom Day* *Added on 3/13/09 What: A celebration with a purpose: to educate Seattleites about their transportation costs How much does transportation cost you? Walking/Biking: Free Metro Bus Fare: $1.75 Gallon of Gasoline: $2.17 Days the average Seattleite works to pay for yearly transportation costs: 74 Helping Seattle celebrate an earlier Transportation Freedom Day: […]
For the past several weeks, since hearing news of Metro’s dismal budget outlook (higher than projected fuel costs, lower than projected sales tax revenues), we transit types have been wondering whether we’d be faced with service cuts, fare hikes higher than the original 25-cent proposal, or both. Folks, hold on to your bus passes: We […]
Today, 14th Avenue East was closed (to cars, that is), from Republican to the park. I didn’t make it over there until close to 4, when it was pouring down rain and (even though the event wasn’t scheduled to end until 6), the Cascade Bicycle Club representatives were closing down their tent. 14th Ave E […]
In my last post, I complained that I had not heard any of the presidential candidates mention public transportation as part of the solution to climate change–or, for that matter, at all. As one reader pointed out, Obama did, indeed, talk about transit (and other alternatives to driving) at his rally in Portland last month. […]
Thanks mostly to high gas prices, public transportation ridership has been growing steadily of late–in Seattle and across the country…even in L.A.. But, according to this Ryan Avent piece in Grist, that hasn’t changed our approach to transportation. Americans, it seems, are not constitutionally opposed to mass transit. An American public enthralled by automobiles has […]
• A car-free city in the Persian Gulf: Groundbreaking is scheduled for Saturday for Masdar City, a nearly self-contained mini-municipality designed for up to 50,000 people rising from the desert next to Abu Dhabi’s international airport and intended as a hub for academic and corporate research on nonpolluting energy technologies. The 2.3-square-mile community, set behind […]