Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Public Transportation - What the hell is that?
I am really upset for an 8th year in row, Bush has taken the largest budget cut for public transportation. The worst part is that no one cares or they care but they don't want to say anything. When I start ranting about policies about trains and metroes being more common, I feel that people look at me like I'm crazy. We need to cut down on congestion? Do people like rush hour traffic? We need to cut green house gases? We need to start sharing good and stop being so individualized. How do we expect to share in a health system if we can't begin sharing transportation? I want some people to either help me form my argument on this or go against, but stop being apathetic about this. I feel it is really important especially with the budget coming out and the election happening.
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4 comments:
Coming from Greenfield to Madison I thought the bus system was fantastic, though our capital still can't compare to an average European city. Our cities were designed around the car and suburbs and public transit really isn't designed for that.
What needs to happen is an affordable alternative to driving. The badger bus is a great option between milwaukee and madison, but is not a good value. If driving becomes more expensive, eventually the demand for public transit will arise and become more economical.
So what do Obama, Clinton, McCain and the other future unsuccessful leaders of country have to say about Public Transportation?
And I have already stated my opinion on Public Transportation, but it is completely impractical since the US was designed around auto/plane travel. Therefore, an entire rebuilding process would have to take place.
I guess I've never had an issue with congestion or rush hour traffic. In 4 years of commuting to Marquette High, we were only late about 3 times for non weather-related traffic issues. Traffic in Madison? It's slow at times, but not bad considering 1/2 of downtown is surrounded by water.
Of course, what is the solution to traffic? Build wider roads, of course. The Marquette interchange is being rebuilt, then after that, I-94 to Chicago is getting widened to 4 lanes. Why? Tourism dollars. If the FIBs can drive up hassle-free, they will be more willing to come up and spend their money. Create a train? Trains are associated with poor people and dirty things.
The biggest highways that I've ever seen weren't even in the US. They were in Toronto, Canada. I don't think that city had any large scale public transportation despite being about as big as Chicago, and to top it off, the traffic was great. There was one highway that had 24 lanes--12 on each side. Now that is efficient transportation!
So yeah...the fact is that Madison metro is a great system and they have high ridership compared to Milwaukee, but...their rates are high and they still have to be bailed out by the government. A $2.00/gallon gas tax would be the only way we will ever see an increase in public transportation in the next 10 years.
Joe,
I agree that this is probably the solution if we want to keep driving, but do you really want to keep driving. I don't, at least not as much as I currently do. I perhaps just need to move to a different city or a different city and stop complaining. I just hope one day I can make some change in the way of transportation that won't be dependent on cars.
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