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Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
8,900 posts, read 15,926,305 times
Reputation: 1819
I have buses and trains in my neighborhood, but I'd prefer to drive. I can control where exactly I want to go, when I want to go, etc. I hate relying on mass transit.
I'm in business in Chicago for a month right now so... I walk/train it... no need to rent a car. Did the same thing when I was a resident. In California definitely drive most places or park and ride.
The average car weighs 3000-3500 lbs, where as the average driver weighs 175 lbs.
For every person who drives alone to work (or wherever), 95% of the energy is used to move just the vehicle from point A to point B while only 5% is used to move the driver.
So, if it cost you $50 to fill your tank, $47.50 of that is used to move the vehicle itself while only $2.50 is going towards getting you from point A to point B.
Think about that the next time you fill up your car/truck.
Jackson has a bus system, but it's under funded, poorly designed, and in dire need of reform. I wish we had a rail system, but that will not be coming any time soon. So, I'm stuck with my little truck. I had a car and a motorcycle that got 26 mpg and 43 mpg respectively, but I needed something I could haul stuff around in, so I sold them and got a little truck that gets 22 mpg, which isn't great but not bad for a truck.
Having been to Italy, I have seen first hand what a train system should be like and it makes me wonder why we have nothing that even compares to that here in the US. The most I paid for a train ticket there was just over 20 euros (app. $30) which was around a 200 mile trip and we traveled at a top speed of 150 mph. I visited 7 different cities/towns in Italy and only used trains to get from one to the next, and I used buses/subways within the cities or walked. It was a great travel experience and I wish we had the same here in the US.
I have heard talk about states requesting funding for high speed rail recently, but I heard that 90% of the requests were for 90-110 mph trains... there were steam engine cars that traveled 100 mph 100 years ago! If the rail system is going to compete with flying in the US, the trains will have to be fast - in the world of today's trains, 100 mph is slow.
Wow I can't believe that you just said the buses are for the poor. It is basically the same, because it's transportation. It's just a matter of preference. Some people like going by train while some like going by bus..
Well, sometimes choices are limited. I'd prefer train (smoother ride), but it doesn't go directly to work from my neighborhood so would take too long. Intead, I bus it (25 minutes). Driving would take only 15 minutes, but I prefer the bus, as I can work, visit, read or just space out on the bus. I am sorry to hear that some live where the buses are "dirty" or "gross". Not the case here, it is usually a pleasant ride, more economical, reduces the demand for more ugly roads and parking lots/structures, and generally better for the planet. (Yes, "the poor" ride my bus, but I'm not too proud to ride with them.)
I have buses and trains in my neighborhood, but I'd prefer to drive. I can control where exactly I want to go, when I want to go, etc. I hate relying on mass transit.
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
8,900 posts, read 15,926,305 times
Reputation: 1819
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Around
And you call yourself a New Yorker!!
lol you'd be surprised, a lot of NYers don't like relying on the subways and buses.
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