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I hear what you're saying, Sierra. It makes sense about the West Coast and cars like you said. I was more referring to Huckleberry in France (which was, as you might expect, built much, much before the advent of cars).
That's why the older cities in the US (built around humans) are way nicer, more fun, and people-friendly. Too bad the development started on the wrong (cold) coast...
This morning I’m inspired to tell people a little bit about the “wonderful” bus system in Tucson. First off, only a few streets have bus lanes, so the buses are constantly in your way, which would be fine had it not been for some quirks. There’s no such thing as a stop other drivers can count on (I know Tucson is not the only place like this), meaning even though you know there’s a bus stop it’s anybody’s guess whether the bus will stop or not. In other words, when you’re in the right lane and you’re about to turn right soon you don’t know if you should stay behind the bus or move to the center lane because if the bus doesn’t stop you may not be able to switch lanes quickly enough. Due to a logic that can exist only in Tucson, the bus stops often are placed immediately past an intersection, meaning should you be unlucky enough to be behind the bus (again, you don’t know if it’ll stop or not) you either miss the light or get stuck behind it somewhat IN the intersection.
The bus routes don’t follow any conceivable logic, either. And how could they? It’s not like the bus goes from Monument A to Museum B via Gardens C, etc… Nothing makes one gas station or drug store more special than another, so the buses for the most part just run on the parallel streets following the grid. Unfortunately, your destination hardly ever is on the same street. Then you’ll have to transfer to another bus for just one block to make it to another parallel street where you get on on yet another one and so on… Good luck with that!
Of course, the bus system doesn’t cover the nicer areas of town at all! Small wonder the demographics on the buses are different, huh… The nearest bus stop to my house is 4 miles away. Imagine what happens should your license get suspended for one reason or another. You’re simply dead! You can’t make it to work. Forget about having fun out involving drinking. No such indulgent activities in the West! I spent $70 on a cab in order to enjoy myself on New Year’s Eve and I didn’t go that far. Could’ve easily cost $200 had the party been somewhere else. You do the math how often you can afford to do that.
Tucson’s decision-makers are not much different than some folks on our forum who enjoy the streets of our great place being flooded and dangerous because… oh, you might’ve forgotten this lil’ perk – Tucson was built without proper drainage as if it never rains here.
Speaking of transportation, my neighborhood is new and we just recently got brand spanking new traffic lights to “help” us perhaps be able to get in and out of the subdivision after all… Yet to see more worthless piece of crap! Picture this – we have a major, fast and busy road and a street going into a subdivision. It’s a T-intersection. At first I thought the main road never gets a red light. Yesterday I witnessed this happening, BUT… there’s always a but… you don’t get an arrow in order to make a left into the subdivision, which happens to be the ONLY reason to ever have a light. People making a right from the subdivision don’t care if they wait on “no light” or red light (and it’s only green for a split second after the same loooong wait). As I said, it’s a T-intersection, so nobody can go straight on the minor road. The only effing reason to have lights is to be able to turn left into the subdivision and you don’t get an arrow!
This morning I’m inspired to tell people a little bit about the “wonderful” bus system in Tucson. First off, only a few streets have bus lanes, so the buses are constantly in your way, which would be fine had it not been for some quirks. There’s no such thing as a stop other drivers can count on (I know Tucson is not the only place like this), meaning even though you know there’s a bus stop it’s anybody’s guess whether the bus will stop or not. In other words, when you’re in the right lane and you’re about to turn right soon you don’t know if you should stay behind the bus or move to the center lane because if the bus doesn’t stop you may not be able to switch lanes quickly enough. Due to a logic that can exist only in Tucson, the bus stops often are placed immediately past an intersection, meaning should you be unlucky enough to be behind the bus (again, you don’t know if it’ll stop or not) you either miss the light or get stuck behind it somewhat IN the intersection.
The bus routes don’t follow any conceivable logic, either. And how could they? It’s not like the bus goes from Monument A to Museum B via Gardens C, etc… Nothing makes one gas station or drug store more special than another, so the buses for the most part just run on the parallel streets following the grid. Unfortunately, your destination hardly ever is on the same street. Then you’ll have to transfer to another bus for just one block to make it to another parallel street where you get on on yet another one and so on… Good luck with that!
Of course, the bus system doesn’t cover the nicer areas of town at all! Small wonder the demographics on the buses are different, huh… The nearest bus stop to my house is 4 miles away. Imagine what happens should your license get suspended for one reason or another. You’re simply dead! You can’t make it to work. Forget about having fun out involving drinking. No such indulgent activities in the West! I spent $70 on a cab in order to enjoy myself on New Year’s Eve and I didn’t go that far. Could’ve easily cost $200 had the party been somewhere else. You do the math how often you can afford to do that.
Tucson’s decision-makers are not much different than some folks on our forum who enjoy the streets of our great place being flooded and dangerous because… oh, you might’ve forgotten this lil’ perk – Tucson was built without proper drainage as if it never rains here.
Speaking of transportation, my neighborhood is new and we just recently got brand spanking new traffic lights to “help” us perhaps be able to get in and out of the subdivision after all… Yet to see more worthless piece of crap! Picture this – we have a major, fast and busy road and a street going into a subdivision. It’s a T-intersection. At first I thought the main road never gets a red light. Yesterday I witnessed this happening, BUT… there’s always a but… you don’t get an arrow in order to make a left into the subdivision, which happens to be the ONLY reason to ever have a light. People making a right from the subdivision don’t care if they wait on “no light” or red light (and it’s only green for a split second after the same loooong wait). As I said, it’s a T-intersection, so nobody can go straight on the minor road. The only effing reason to have lights is to be able to turn left into the subdivision and you don’t get an arrow!
Hope my post has been informative.
Good points, Sierra. Buses have always contributed to Tucson's traffic problems in that particular way, and we drivers just do the best we can trying to get around them! The good news is that some intersections do have an area cut out where the bus can turn into - which greatly helps traffic in that far right lane.
This morning I’m inspired to tell people a little bit about the “wonderful” bus system in Tucson. First off, only a few streets have bus lanes, so the buses are constantly in your way, which would be fine had it not been for some quirks. There’s no such thing as a stop other drivers can count on (I know Tucson is not the only place like this), meaning even though you know there’s a bus stop it’s anybody’s guess whether the bus will stop or not. In other words, when you’re in the right lane and you’re about to turn right soon you don’t know if you should stay behind the bus or move to the center lane because if the bus doesn’t stop you may not be able to switch lanes quickly enough. Due to a logic that can exist only in Tucson, the bus stops often are placed immediately past an intersection, meaning should you be unlucky enough to be behind the bus (again, you don’t know if it’ll stop or not) you either miss the light or get stuck behind it somewhat IN the intersection.
They don't have bus lanes here in NC either. Nor, that I can remember, in NYC - and, really, even if they did have them in NYC everyone's just in your damned way anyways.
Quote:
The bus routes don’t follow any conceivable logic, either. And how could they? It’s not like the bus goes from Monument A to Museum B via Gardens C, etc… Nothing makes one gas station or drug store more special than another, so the buses for the most part just run on the parallel streets following the grid. Unfortunately, your destination hardly ever is on the same street. Then you’ll have to transfer to another bus for just one block to make it to another parallel street where you get on on yet another one and so on… Good luck with that!
Again, you'll notice that in most cases, buses always run parallel. See this map of NYC bus routes for example. http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/manbus.pdf Its not unusual. What would you have them do? Zig zag wildly all over the city?
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Of course, the bus system doesn’t cover the nicer areas of town at all! Small wonder the demographics on the buses are different, huh… The nearest bus stop to my house is 4 miles away.
I can speak from personal experience that more affluent parts of town actually pass laws and statutes to keep buses away. They smell, take up lots of room on the road, are loud and - face it - they wouldn't get much use in parts of town where everyone already has a car.
What would you have them do? Zig zag wildly all over the city?
Go from somewhat important place to another and another...? Oh, wait... there's hardly anything like it; I already mentioned that. So you're right... they just go from point A East/North to point B West/South... In our case they can at least dream weave from one more important strip mall to another…
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I can speak from personal experience that more affluent parts of town actually pass laws and statutes to keep buses away. They smell, take up lots of room on the road, are loud and - face it - they wouldn't get much use in parts of town where everyone already has a car.
You probably have a point. It's reasonable. You don't see payday loans there, either. However, more affluent neighborhoods in other countries don't lack transportation. Not to mention, they're often in the INNER city... ya know, the place where people in other countries have fun … the place that was killed here so we get to enjoy bums and crime only!
I can speak from personal experience that more affluent parts of town actually pass laws and statutes to keep buses away. They smell, take up lots of room on the road, are loud and - face it - they wouldn't get much use in parts of town where everyone already has a car.
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Originally Posted by sierraAZ
You probably have a point. It's reasonable. You don't see payday loans there, either. However, more affluent neighborhoods in other countries don't lack transportation. Not to mention, they're often in the INNER city... ya know, the place where people in other countries have fun … the place that was killed here so we get to enjoy bums and crime only!
Exactly the point I attempted to make in the "crosstown freeways" thread! The lovelier areas of town which are nestled up in the heavenlies don't want such things as freeways, dumps, payday loan shacks, or the ghetto-on-wheels unloading its unsightly, seedy passengers up there... out there...
They prefer that their sterile environments be interspersed with Spanish-tiled Starbucks and McDonalds instead!
Exactly the point I attempted to make in the "crosstown freeways" thread! The lovelier areas of town which are nestled up in the heavenlies don't want such things as freeways, dumps, payday loan shacks, or the ghetto-on-wheels unloading its unsightly, seedy passengers up there... out there...
That's not entirely true. Civano (as you probably know, they ARE characters as big as you are!) is currently trying to get on the route of the new bus line meant to go to Rita Ranch, but it looks like it's gonna be some express bus hauling people to work only - most likely to DM and downtown.
damn it zony, im at work and i busted out laughing
Oops... sorry, Wingster...
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because… oh, you might’ve forgotten this lil’ perk – Tucson was built without proper drainage as if it never rains here. 
