On Wed, Mar 07, 2007 at 10:18:22AM -0800, Paul Johnson wrote: > > I'm not quite sure where to find the numbers, but I seem to recall Portland, > Ore has a larger and more travelled transit system than Chicago and has > since a public corporation (TriMet) bought out all the failing private > rapid transit companies in the region (like Oregon Electric Railroad, > Portland Traction, etc). > I think the numbers I found only considered individual transit companies or authorities in a particular urban area. I think a more apt comparison to the system you describe would be the entire Chicagoland area, which almost certainly has a bigger transit system. > > The number one requirement for any public transportation system is that > > it be ubiquitous and accessible. > > Indeed. One thing that is an unfortunate stumbling block is the number of > relatively sparse neighborhoods that cropped up after the elimination of > most public transportation in favor of freeways. > You seem to have this misconception that before cars, everyone used public transit. In reality, people rode horses or carriages and walked. Public transit was known in only a few cities, mostly the bigger and more densely populated. > > I don't know what it is you have against people who prefer to live in > > the suburbs and not in the city itself. > > I don't have a problem with people who live in the suburbs if they're > willing to accept the fact that it's going to take a bit of time to get > anyplace regardless of your transportation options and are willing to pick > the best tool for the job. > OK. We are in agreement on this :-) > > You know, I'd love to see cars go away. Why don't you give yours up? > > Personally, I like living out in the country. It is worth it to me to > > deal with the daily commute so that in my off time I can enjoy the > > scenery and being out in the country. > > I like living in a region where it's nigh impossible to get a building > permit in rural areas for anything other than agribusiness. It's rather > selfish of people to think we should have to pay higher taxes to maintain > greater wear on rural roads, blight productive or scenic land and breathe > more air pollution just so someone can have a super-long commute to the > city instead of just taking a vacation. > Well, on this we are not in agreement :-) Regards, -Roberto -- Roberto C. Sanchez http://people.connexer.com/~roberto http://www.connexer.com
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