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I was watching the show Ecopolis on the science channel last night.
There were four ideas shown that would be contenders for transportation in 2050: Cars that run on algae, more public transportation and public transportation that runs on biogas, more fuel efficient air planes, and cars that run on hydrogen.
Anyway, what improvements would you like to see for transportation in the U.S. and the world?
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It's all Psychological......I believe.
Oh dear, where do you start? A public transportation look.
First, as Americans, we enjoy the privacy and personality of our own vehicles. They say the cars we drive are the physical personas we project. Having some 92% of Americans (the population that are able to own and/or drive) owning/driving some sort of vehicle shows where are transportation needs and infastructure are headed. Now, it's hard to compare our needs to the needs of the people from around the world, ex., Hong Kong. In HK, the ownership of cars is a low 39%. They are densely populated and have a great public trans. system. But the question lies, can a major US city (with the exception of NYC) have a great public transportation system that can rival the rest of the world like HK, London, Paris, Toronto? With the increase awareness of CO2 and global warming, will that change the hearts and minds of the US population in the major US cities?
Second, how can the local, state, and federal gov't. finance a daunting task of changing the infastructure that was geared for cars and build it for a more eco-friendly transport. Apply an insurance tax for present car owners? Would a gradual increase in taxes on your insurance for this system be a viable solution as the tranportation system becomes more and more plausible that you would trade your vehicle for this system?
Third, Accessiblity. With this notion, accessibilty that I use is where can I go, and will I get there in a timely fashion that is better than the car I own? Can I go to work, hop on this system, go to the market, and make it home for the 6 o'clock news? Can I buy my Ikea shelves and schlep it with me on the public trans. system? Could I leave my friends home and make it for the movie date with my partner across the city in 20 minutes?
So many questions for just one subject, and that's just the public trans. system view. But the big question lies for those wanting a change for economical and/or ecological reasons, can we change the psychology for the 92% of Americans who own/drive cars?
Oh dear, where do you start? A public transportation look.
First, as Americans, we enjoy the privacy and personality of our own vehicles. They say the cars we drive are the physical personas we project. Having some 92% of Americans (the population that are able to own and/or drive) owning/driving some sort of vehicle shows where are transportation needs and infastructure are headed. Now, it's hard to compare our needs to the needs of the people from around the world, ex., Hong Kong. In HK, the ownership of cars is a low 39%. They are densely populated and have a great public trans. system. But the question lies, can a major US city (with the exception of NYC) have a great public transportation system that can rival the rest of the world like HK, London, Paris, Toronto? With the increase awareness of CO2 and global warming, will that change the hearts and minds of the US population in the major US cities?
Second, how can the local, state, and federal gov't. finance a daunting task of changing the infastructure that was geared for cars and build it for a more eco-friendly transport. Apply an insurance tax for present car owners? Would a gradual increase in taxes on your insurance for this system be a viable solution as the tranportation system becomes more and more plausible that you would trade your vehicle for this system?
Third, Accessiblity. With this notion, accessibilty that I use is where can I go, and will I get there in a timely fashion that is better than the car I own? Can I go to work, hop on this system, go to the market, and make it home for the 6 o'clock news? Can I buy my Ikea shelves and schlep it with me on the public trans. system? Could I leave my friends home and make it for the movie date with my partner across the city in 20 minutes?
So many questions for just one subject, and that's just the public trans. system view. But the big question lies for those wanting a change for economical and/or ecological reasons, can we change the psychology for the 92% of Americans who own/drive cars?
How about I tax you so I can buy gas? Lets just all stay home and tax each other, then we need no transportation at all!!!!
Oh dear, where do you start? A public transportation look.
First, as Americans, we enjoy the privacy and personality of our own vehicles. They say the cars we drive are the physical personas we project. Having some 92% of Americans (the population that are able to own and/or drive) owning/driving some sort of vehicle shows where are transportation needs and infastructure are headed. Now, it's hard to compare our needs to the needs of the people from around the world, ex., Hong Kong. In HK, the ownership of cars is a low 39%. They are densely populated and have a great public trans. system. But the question lies, can a major US city (with the exception of NYC) have a great public transportation system that can rival the rest of the world like HK, London, Paris, Toronto? With the increase awareness of CO2 and global warming, will that change the hearts and minds of the US population in the major US cities?
Second, how can the local, state, and federal gov't. finance a daunting task of changing the infastructure that was geared for cars and build it for a more eco-friendly transport. Apply an insurance tax for present car owners? Would a gradual increase in taxes on your insurance for this system be a viable solution as the tranportation system becomes more and more plausible that you would trade your vehicle for this system?
Third, Accessiblity. With this notion, accessibilty that I use is where can I go, and will I get there in a timely fashion that is better than the car I own? Can I go to work, hop on this system, go to the market, and make it home for the 6 o'clock news? Can I buy my Ikea shelves and schlep it with me on the public trans. system? Could I leave my friends home and make it for the movie date with my partner across the city in 20 minutes?
So many questions for just one subject, and that's just the public trans. system view. But the big question lies for those wanting a change for economical and/or ecological reasons, can we change the psychology for the 92% of Americans who own/drive cars?
I find it interesting that even though gas prices have dropped, many Americans are sticking to public transportation. One can say they found they have worked transit into their lives or that even though gas prices have dropped, Americans are struggling in other ways and therefore "must" keep taking public transportation.
I personally would love to be able to live well without a car. Where I live, it's pretty much necessary to have a car. I know some people who don't have cars but I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. They are very much dependent on other people and even when I suggest they take the bus, they have some sort of negative attitude towards it. I would much rather take the bus than have to call up lots of people begging for a ride...but that's just me.
I wouldn't mind a .10-.25 increase in the gas tax to go towards public transportation. SUV owners should be charged more for gas and for insurance. We should have congestion charges in larger cities.
Have you read Divorce Your Car:Ending The Love Affair with the Automobile by Katie Alvord? It is a GREAT read.
I usually take public bus to downtown boston for work. Recently I had to drive to Boston to tend to a family mattter. Even if gasoline were free I would still take the bus.
I think we should encourage the rail road system to deliver specific trains from a fixed start to a fixed destination (I am thinking about Portland, Oregon to Schenectady, NY) faster than a truck. I do not see why a truck can make the trip in four days and a train takes six. In 1930 the NY Central passenger trains were getting from NYC to Chicago in 20 hours. Why should a dedicated freight take any longer?
Then we can work on really high speed (200 to 300 mph) passenger and high value freight service. NYC to Chicago could be a 6 hour ride.
I think we should all go back to horse-drawn vehicles. Then you could use the manure for those fruit and vegetable gardens that you'll need, because there won't be any more rapid-ship items of fresh fruits and vegies cross-country.... The best thing about horse-drawn - you can still make it as fancy or as plain as you like, and still have the same amount of horsepower. No more drag-racing up and down, drive-by shootings would be a thing of the past (ever tried to shoot while the horse under or in front of you was at a dead gallop?) and you wouldn't have to sit next to anyone you didn't want to.
Of course, maybe that's a little too "green" for some folks...
I think we should all go back to horse-drawn vehicles. Then you could use the manure for those fruit and vegetable gardens that you'll need, because there won't be any more rapid-ship items of fresh fruits and vegies cross-country.... The best thing about horse-drawn - you can still make it as fancy or as plain as you like, and still have the same amount of horsepower. No more drag-racing up and down, drive-by shootings would be a thing of the past (ever tried to shoot while the horse under or in front of you was at a dead gallop?) and you wouldn't have to sit next to anyone you didn't want to.
Of course, maybe that's a little too "green" for some folks...
Ha ha, wouldn't we have to drastically increase the horse population?
I am not opposed to having horse drawn carriages, of course we'd have to leave earlier to make it to work or school but I think it's worth it.
Think of all those wild horses, out on the prairie, so few going up for adoption right now... and think of how many folks we could employ, training the horses, making the surreys and buggies and sleighs again, shoeing the horses, caring for them! Think of how many home garages could be stables, and how many towns could have sutlers instead of parking garages. It would be a whole industry again...
right down to growing the feed. There could even be horse-drawn public transportation!
Mostly, think of thumbing your nose with both hands - one at the Middle East, and the other at the Big Three... less air pollution, more common sense ownership and responsibility, less drag racing and cutting each other off. More people could be proud of learning a real skill, too - instead of driving their autos into the dirt. Shoot, horses last longer than cars anymore anyway...
I'd like to see the development of hovercraft to use in place of grounded vehicles. Airboats and hovercraft do exist so the basic technology is readily available.
One of the biggest advantages would be the abandonment of our incredibly expensive infrastructure. No more paving and repaving rt 80 in PA for instance. Imagine the cost that goes into road repair as well as money 'lost' in just on handoffs, inefficiency and graft. Forget macadam, just go with grassy lanes from east to west.
Going from a horse drawn carriage to a motorized car that needed costly roads had to be more of a stretch than cars to hovercraft.
Sounds crazy but we need to freebase our thinking to knock down self imposed barriers to creativity.
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It's all Psychological......I believe.
