From: bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry Schlesinger)
Subject: Re: Save the Planet and the Economy at the Same time!
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 14:35:00 GMT

In article <1992Dec23.232248.12941@pbhye.PacBell.COM>, mjvande@PacBell.COM (Mike Vandeman) writes...
>>				...
>>Well, first of all, everyone does not have a choice where to work.  
>>People take the jobs they can get, where they are.  Because of the way 
>>our metropolitan areas have evolved, many of these jobs are not near 
>>mass transit.
> 
>So don't work there.
> 

From the first two sentences above, to which this line 
fails to respond, "everyone does not have a choice where to work.  
People take the jobs they can get, where they are."  If the Bay Area 
coalition is this responsive at public meetings, the public officials 
are not going to listen.  

>>Secondly, there isn't a choice for everybody to live near transit.  
>>Because of the way housing is distributed, a significant fraction of 
>>the housing is not near mass transit. ... (As an aside, the housing 
>>close to mass transit here tends to be more expensive.  The less 
>>expensive housing is farther from town and mass transit.  So the less
>>affluent are penalized.)  The only way to provide this choice, as was 
>>discussed before.... 
> 
>In the Bay Area (SF), 90% (per a poll) have transit access. They just choose
>not to use it.

As was pointed out in the responses from my fellow DC area citizen,
James Acker, the Bay area is above average in this regard.  Transit
access is not as universally available elsewhere.  Consider Los
Angeles.  Also, being near a transit line does not mean that such
transit can be reasonably used for all trips.  A number of the
respondents have illustrated trips for which mass transit is nominally
available but not a practical alternative.  From my limited experience
in the Bay area, it appears that transit lines follow a greater
fraction of typical trips thatn they do here. 

> 
>>The answer is to get involved in the development process, to elect 
>>public officials -- or to BE elected public officials -- who will 
>>stand up to the developers and protect the integrity of the 
>>development plan, rather than accepting developer-driven development 
>>and trying to impose mass transit on a pattern for which it is not 
>>suited.
> 
>I vote with my feet.
> 

There appears to be a contradiction in approach here.  Dr. Vandeman is 
approaching the problem of poor development by choosing to live near 
transit, (a choice which, as has been pointed out by a number of 
correspondents, is not available to all) rather than by political 
action.  On the other hand, he approaches the problem of transit 
methods through political action rather than personal choice of 
transit methods. 

The local civic association to which I belong has opposed high-density 
commercial development in areas not convenient to mass transit.  The 
county-wide civic association to which I belong has opposed (with some 
success so far) the construction of a "bypass" east of DC that would, 
in fact, serve as a focus for automobile-oriented development.  
Directing any development into corridors where mass-transit access can 
be arranged is an essential step in the process of developing a 
well-used mass transit system with public support.

>>It depends what you need time for.  If you need the time to read, 
>>fine.  But you can't do shopping, run household errands, or pick up 
>>the kids from day care while you are sitting on mass transit.
> 
>I didn't say transit is Utopia, only that it is viable. These things
>can be done without driving, e.g. by bicycle (incl. trailer).

This answer misses the point.  The question is _time_.  The original 
response was to the suggestion that time spent riding mass transit 
could be used productively, whereas time spent driving could not be.  
The point, which this answer fails to address, is that for many 
people, the few things that can be done on mass transit are not those 
for which time is needed. 

				my views only
				BMS

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