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ChineseDaily Transit Links Roundup for 6/13/08
Contributed by Fred Camino on June 13th, 2008 at 10:11 am
- Terence Jeffery, a cartarded conservative nimrod, is my new comedy hero. His defense of Americuz “free-market transportation” system is a laugh riot. Terence buddy, read this and then go eat your slice of pizza and be quiet, cuz I’m not buying it. Cartard.
- Los Angeles freeway bike rebels garner national attention.
- Orange Line to keep going… all the way to the Chatsworth Metrolink Station.
- Amtrak president Alex Kummant gets real in a great interview with Reuters. A must read.
- Los Angeles rail ridership up from a year ago, but bus ridership is down. Dear car-culture refugees: fear not the bus.
- Thousand Oaks bus system offers Google Transit and NextBus technology to help riders figure out where they are going and stay on schedule. Nice!
- Hey, remember when Austin’s CapMetro went up against Miss Traffic and won? Well they’ve pwned Metro again by launching an official agency blog. Nice!
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
LOL. That Jeffrey essay is a laugh riot. The automobile is free-market? LOL.
Like many conservatives, he doesn’t even take into account the moral hazzard from declining economic productivity and environmental quality from congestion and the inability to provide everyone with a high quality automobile-based lifestyle. The costs these automobile addicts push onto society in other ways aren’t internalized by them either.
Well, I hope he enjoys his “freedom and independence” to pay $5/gallon gasoline, and sit in ever worsening congestion. What a laugh riot. He said he hoped the increased public transit ridership is a trend which can be “reversed”. LOL. He opposed parking restrictions, carpool lanes, anything that gets in the way of his automobile entitlement.
Despite all the nonsense about lost freedom and independence, buried within the article is this gem:
This is what conservatives REALLY fear about public transit: “Oh my God, I might have to sit next someone of a different race, class, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. What if they actually end up interacting with me? What if I find out they are just like me?”
Thanks for reposting your article, Fred.
fuck that guy. seriously someone should repeal his right to bloging
Newspaper (or good book) and Ipod. You’re not morally compelled to “interact” with anyone you don’t choose to.
Faeries! We can run cars off of pixie dust! (with all apologies to Peter Pan). Do these people realize that there isn’t a magical alternative fuel out there? Ethanol “works” in small quantities because of crazy Federal farm subsidies. But if the entire country switched to it, it’d collapse. Folks, there isn’t anything else out there.
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that article was an SNL skit.
Freedom machines? Jeffrey should be forced to try to get to Santa Monica from Downtown on the 10 freeway during rush hour. That’ll change his tune.
That Kummant interview is great too and shouldn’t be overlooked.
I don’t think it’s fear but the slowness of the bus system. A few years ago, a friend of mine missed the last Blue Line to LB and had to take the bus. Even though the roads were virtually empty (read NO CARS), the trip STILL took about 4 hours (not including waiting for the bus to arrive while the same line in the opposite direction ran like clockwork). Blue Line takes 1 hour.
Therefore, if you have to go somwhere in a hurry (like the airport), the bus would be your worst bet. I perfer to use either a private shuttle service or the Green Line. Busses are for when you can take your time (weekend) shopping.
I think the Cartard forgot to mention the socialist road system. Theres nothing free about being stuck on the 405.
The primary fault of his argument is that what people are freely choosing public transit, it is not being “forced” upon them by some socialist government. They want public transit now and are asking for options. They want convenient, fast, inexpensive transportation, and trains and buses offer this now more than the car. It is difficult for people to change entrenched behaviors, but people will – they are now. He acknowledges the other fault of his argument, that the road and freeway infrastructure is extremely expensive, and is already subsidized by the government. In time, a substantial long term investment in rail in LA will provide faster and more convenient transportation to where people want to go.
Dan W. you make excellent points, it is so apparent that this guy is really afraid of other people. This guy is laughable, but sadly not an isolated case. He reminds me of the libertarian James Moore who also opposes any investment in rail.
His hope that increased interest in public transit ridership can be reversed wont be fullfilled, rather I think it is a trend that is here to stay and will only grow.
Thanks to you Fred Camino for your work on this great blog, and your commitment to public transit and rail in LA. And thanks to all the other commited advocates here, Dan W. and others.
Freedom machines?!, i mean really.. Where is George Lakoff? Lets see..
1. polluting isolation machines
2. individual carbon emitting machines
…
The National Interstate Freeway System was originally subsidized by the Govrnment as an efficent method to transport the military
My thoughts EXACTLY!! Bulling, and insulting people has NEVER made them change their ways or beliefs. Just ask the Animal Rights Activists…
Agreed. There’s also a reliability issue with buses. My commute involves a train and a bus. The train is always on time or close enough to it not to make me late. The bus on the other hand has made me late on more then one occasion. Once because the bus driver simply decided not to stop to pick me up.
I actually tend to feel a lot safer on a bus then on a train. I’ve been riding buses for a while now (although not in LA) and when I’ve witnessed
altercations the bus driver has always interceded and stopped the guilty party (either by calling the police or just kicking the person off the bus). I’m not sure anyone would do anything to help on a train. I have yet to have a serious problem, but given that I’m a small woman usually on my own, my personal safety is a great concern whenever I leave the house. It would be nice if the train was one place I could feel safe from all that.
Also a discussion here:
http://www.caglepost.com/column/Terrence+Jeffrey/6709/The+Threat+To+The+Car.html