billt44hk | 1 Mar 2005 19:16
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Re: Rail vs. Buses


Americans often assume that we are priveleged with our UK rail 
networks. This depressing article in today's Times ''Fear grows for 
rail services as axe hangs over local stations'' gives a truer 
perspective i'm afraid.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1505665,00.html
Bill
--- In CarFree@..., Jym Dyer <jym <at> e...> wrote:
> >> The best transit systems in the world use an integrated
> >> rail/bus system.
> 
> =v= Also a little sweeping, I'm afraid.  Rail where appropriate
> plus bus where appropriate makes sense (obviously), but rail
> plus bus isn't always applied that way.
> 
> =v= A classic example is San Francisco, a city built around
> streetcars and cablecars.  If you look at old maps, you'll see
> rail on nearly every street.  What San Francisco has today,
> though, is a lot of buses where rail is more appropriate.  In
> particular, buses that spew copious amounts of carcinogenic
> diesel soot to get up steep hills.
> 
> > No wonder only the poorest of the poor rode that bus line.
> 
> =v= This is the thing underlying the "transit apartheid"
> thread.  So often the buses (and their carcinogenic exhaust)
> get deployed in the neighborhoods of poor and/or minority
> communities, while the richer and whiter are more likely to
> get rail.
> 
(Continue reading)

billt44hk | 1 Mar 2005 20:23
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park and ride?


Relating to the bus vs rail thread I notice a thread on my local 
cycling list where there's complaints about a parking charge   
introduced at some of our suburban train stations where previously 
parking was free. The argument being that this is a deterrent to 
train use-people who  park their cars and ride  into the city might 
now decide to drive all the way. 
I tend to believe in principle that there 's no such thing 
as ''free'' parking, the very existence of cars contributes to our 
enslavement, car''free'' is  a  misnomer for our condition as non-
car owners :-)
''fair'' parking charges would be prohibitive parking charges.

Is my dislike of ''park and ride'' unreasonable?
Bill

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Simon Norton | 1 Mar 2005 20:37
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park & ride


Whether park & ride is part of a sustainable transport policy depends on how
it's used.

I suspect that one reason why it developed in the UK is that bus deregulation
made it impossible for local authorities to develop conventional bus services,
so they tackled town centre congestion in the only way they could. Local
authorities were so desperate to keep cars out of city centres to avoid
congestion that they blinded themselves to the fact that the subsidy to park &
ride buses was helping to undermine the viability of conventional buses and to
fuel the growth of traffic in the areas around cities.

The key requirement for sustainability is that motorists should have financial
incentives to park as close to their homes (or wherever they are starting from)
as they can, rather than as close to their destinations as they can. In other
words, it means that the cost of motoring needs to soar and the cost of rail and
bus fares to sink. In such a context the actual level of parking charges doesn't
matter too much. What would then happen is that motorists would then use their
cars only for the initial section of longer journeys to town centres, so they
wouldn't be too hard hit by the higher motoring costs even if they lived in
areas with poor public transport.

People visiting such areas would still face problems, of course, so we should
still aim for reasonably comprehensive coverage of the country by public
transport of one form or another. (This is where the UK, and many European
countries, does score over N America.)

 Simon Norton

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Robert J. Matter | 1 Mar 2005 20:50
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Re: park and ride?


billt44hk wrote:

> 
> Relating to the bus vs rail thread I notice a thread on my local 
> cycling list where there's complaints about a parking charge   
> introduced at some of our suburban train stations where previously 
> parking was free. The argument being that this is a deterrent to 
> train use-people who  park their cars and ride  into the city might 
> now decide to drive all the way. 
> I tend to believe in principle that there 's no such thing 
> as ''free'' parking, the very existence of cars contributes to our 
> enslavement, car''free'' is  a  misnomer for our condition as non-
> car owners :-)
> ''fair'' parking charges would be prohibitive parking charges.
> 
> Is my dislike of ''park and ride'' unreasonable?

Not at all. I believe it costs $3,000 to build a parking spot. I'm not 
sure if that includes ongoing maintenance (sweeping, re-painting lines, 
plowing and salting in the winter, property taxes).

Where I take the train from in East Chicago, Indiana the parking is free

    http://pages.prodigy.net/rjmatter/gallery/nwi07.jpg

as are all the other South Shore train stations in Indiana AFAIK.

Two stops and ten minutes away in Chicago they charge $1 per day for 
parking. I don't have a photo but their parking lot is packed full just 
(Continue reading)

Marie | 2 Mar 2005 18:16
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Move over for the Carfree Family Caravan!


Wanted to share the news--we are soon to be trailering around our 
city with our daughter. We bought a new Burley Solo trailer (thank 
you, tax refund) and it is finally here. I assembled it last night 
and I must say it is one of the nicest pieces of equipment I have 
ever owned. Being carfree is awesome--we get to buy great "toys" 
like this--just kidding, this trailer will be highly functional. :)
Can't wait to try it out! Whoo-hoo!

Last summer we used a bike seat to carry our daughter, which was 
attached to one of our bikes. It tended to make the bike tip to the 
side (could be dangerous with my husband as pilot). I used to have a 
heart attack every time he took a corner like a race driver, much to 
the delightful squeals of our daughter. Anyway, she has now outgrown 
it so after much thought we decided to fork over the money for a 
trailer which I plan on using A LOT. Now we will be able to bike 
farther distances as a family, in more weather conditions. Our 
mobility has been greatly expanded since now we will not have to 
rely on bus service for those longer trips. And after she outgrows 
it, we can still use it to haul groceries. 

Wish us luck (and safe passage on the streets)

Marie

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Paul Cooley | 2 Mar 2005 19:47

Re: Move over for the Carfree Family Caravan!


Good luck Marie.  You'll find that cars give you a much wider berth 
when you have a child in a trailer.  Our Burley trailer is about four 
years old now and is still holding up.  It is, however, showing some 
signs of aging.   Hands down it is the most valuable thing we've ever 
purchased.

Paul Cooley

http://carfreefamily.blogspot.com

On Mar 2, 2005, at 10:16 AM, Marie wrote:

>
>
>
> Wanted to share the news--we are soon to be trailering around our
> city with our daughter. We bought a new Burley Solo trailer (thank
> you, tax refund) and it is finally here. I assembled it last night
> and I must say it is one of the nicest pieces of equipment I have
> ever owned. Being carfree is awesome--we get to buy great "toys"
> like this--just kidding, this trailer will be highly functional. :)
> Can't wait to try it out! Whoo-hoo!
>
> Last summer we used a bike seat to carry our daughter, which was
> attached to one of our bikes. It tended to make the bike tip to the
> side (could be dangerous with my husband as pilot). I used to have a
> heart attack every time he took a corner like a race driver, much to
> the delightful squeals of our daughter. Anyway, she has now outgrown
> it so after much thought we decided to fork over the money for a
(Continue reading)

Paul | 2 Mar 2005 20:10
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A battle ensues!


Right now, the town I live in is having a big fight over how to 
renovate the downtown.  One side is pushing for less parking more 
pedestrian and bike-friendly space.  THe other side is the 
conservative business owners who want nothing to change except more 
parking.  

I am already researching, but I havn't been able to find any stats on 
parking and the success of business.  If anyone has any good stats on 
how less cars make an area more prosperous. I need statistics.\

THank you,
Paul

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Marie | 2 Mar 2005 22:15
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Teenage drivers


Here is an interesting USA Today article about the controversy over 
whether or not 16 year olds should be able to drive. What really 
strikes me is the fact that so many people view it as 
a "convenience" issue, not a safety issue. See the quote below...

"But the idea of flatly forbidding 16-year-olds to drive without 
parental supervision — as New Jersey does — has run into
resistance 
from many lawmakers and parents around the country.

Irving Slosberg, a Florida state representative who lost his 14-year-
old daughter in a 1995 crash, says that when he proposed a law to 
raise the driving age, other lawmakers "laughed at me." 

Bill Van Tassel, AAA's national manager of driving training 
programs, hears both sides of the argument. "We have parents who are 
pretty much tired of chauffeuring their kids around, and they want 
their children to be able to drive," he says. "Driving is a very 
emotional issue."

Maybe driving wouldn't be so "emotional" if it wasn't so essential 
for getting around in most of the country. Yet one more reason for 
us to reduce reliance on cars. Here is the link to the complete 
article. 

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-03-02-teens-cars-main-
usat_x.htm

Marie
(Continue reading)

whistling_lass | 2 Mar 2005 23:15
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Re: Teenage drivers


--- In CarFree@..., "Marie" <shepherdwatch <at> y...> wrote:

> Bill Van Tassel, AAA's national manager of driving training 
> programs, hears both sides of the argument. "We have parents who are 
> pretty much tired of chauffeuring their kids around, and they want 
> their children to be able to drive," he says. 

What's wrong with NOT having your kids enrolled in every single
extracurricular activity on the planet?  It reminds me of that car
commercial several years ago (don't remember the make and model, but I
believe it was an SUV...of course!), where the dad was jumping in his
vehicle and racing back and forth between his daughter's soccer game
and his son's swim meet.  Argh.

Marcy

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Simon Norton | 2 Mar 2005 23:28
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teenage drivers


Why can't organisers of after-school activities be made responsible for
providing transport for the children ? This wouldn't help for non school related
activities, but it would be a start.

 Simon Norton

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Gmane