Re: Car Craft Ramblings on Alky,,,,

["Jim Blair" <carnuck@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

A: It's pretty tough to get enthused about taking a transportation source 
here in Seattle known as the "loser cruiser". They work off a hub system, 
which is fine for town to town, but there are no cross secting webs for the 
most part. I live 2 miles from work (downhill to work and uphill home) but 
the bus would require me to go almost to downtown Seattle to catch the one 
that comes back past my work! I'm looking at maybe finding myself a Solargen 
Eagle or similar because of my short commute. (Could get one for my wife 
too, but it would have to be a Comanche. She's at the point she almost hates 
her Subaru and loves my truck because it gets BETTER economy than her '01 
and looks cooler too! <G>)


From: farna@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Car Craft Ramblings on Alky,,,,
To: mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID: <ADVANCES62S2TRqf69a00000180@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

The problem with public transportation is mainly location. In densely 
populated areas it works exceptionally well if scheduled with stops every 30 
minutes or less -- no more than an hour between stops. But much of America 
is spralling suburbs or rural/small towns. Even a smallish city like Dover 
would have trouble with public transportation. Larger ones like the LA and 
DC areas shouldn't and generally don't. The general public has to get 
enthused about it too, I guess that's the main thing. If I lived in a 
crowded area like Atlanta or LA I'd use it provided it was convenient and I 
didn't have to wait to long for my ride. I've seen public transport at work 
in Korea. Most people use it, and property values/rent near main hubs like a 
bus station or subway stop soar! But it wasn't until the last 10 years or so 
that many Koreans could afford a car. 30 story apartment buildings are in 
large clusters -- looks like they grew them in fields near Seoul! Limited 
parking, but bus stops !
 at the ground floor of nearly all of them. Ground floor is all shops with 
the occasional large store, so you could literally live and work in the same 
building, and find everything you need in your building or one adjacent to 
you! No need for a car. It's different here. With dense traffic areas like 
LA would definitely benefit from better public transportation, but it has to 
be cheap and more than that convenient. Would take a lot of changes to the 
current infrastructure to make it convenient enough. In Korea there is a 
special bus only lane on the freeways that is strictly enforced during 
holidays and certain hours of the day. It works like a HOV lane, but you 
have to have SIX people in the vehicle to use it. The HOV lane in Atlanta 
requires only two people in the vehicle and isn't enforced, making it more 
of a joke than anything else. Should be at least four people! And if you own 

a two passenger car you just stay in with the traffic.