I'm not advocating taking away anyones freedom or cars; you have misread
my posts if you think I am. I am advocating for the freedom to breath
safe and clean air, which is necessary for survival, and without which
you cannot enjoy any other freedoms. Certainly my freedom is being
infringed upon on days when I cannot bicycle outdoors without my lungs
and throat burning from ozone toxicity.
Mass transit isn't a utopian dream, it's a proven technology that is
used in nearly every large city worldwide except the LA basin. It also
has nothing to do with any certain economic system like communism- there
are many different ways to fund mass transit. It's certainly no more
socialist than building a public road system with tax dollars! It can be
funded with a combination of ridership fees and tax dollars just as car
travel is currently, and it can be made a more practical alternative
without banning cars.
Cars in the LA basin are not as practical as they are elsewhere. Fuel
costs more here, and the traffic is so bad that the average vehicle
speed here is only 17mph! I can average faster than that on my bicycle.
The roads are also in very poor condition, and the stop and go traffic
makes car maintenance much higher than in more rural areas. There's also
many more accidents here. I know some people who spend over 6 hours a
day commuting in their car, which really destroys your quality of life
and freedom IMO. Surely it's not impossible to find a more practical
alternative?
I don't understand how commuting 3 hours each way in heavy traffic as
many people in LA do somehow equates to greater freedom than a 10 minute
ride in a high speed train. I certainly wouldn't label the experience of
being parked on an LA freeway in a traffic jam while breathing smog in
110 degree heat to be "freedom." If anything, it's the opposite of
freedom, but it represents nearly half of waking hours for many people
in LA!
Tyler
R A Bennell wrote:
I think you have been hanging around the University too long. There is a real
world out there and most of it wants
a car. Mass transit is a utopian dream. It is an idealogical thing sort of like
socialism or communism. Most of us
prefer FREEDOM and the car offers so much of that. You aren't going to take it
away from us easily. Just enjoy your
bike and move away from LA as soon as you can.
Randy
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