If spending on mass transit decreases the commute time for motorists more cheaply than widening freeways would you be for it?
I lived in Santa Monica. I was called to jury duty downtown LA during the OJ trial (not on it). I took Santa Monica Transit’s bus. (The movie ‘Speed’ used a Santa Monica bus, gave it the number 33 instead of 10. 33 was the number of a Metro bus to SM.) I walked a mile to a bus stop, got off in front of the court. A bus lane made it much faster than a commute - and no parking, of course. Have you driven I10 in rush hour?
Baltimore.
It’s often the case. Crime novels set in LA often feature savvy PIs taking surface roads, explaining why they’re faster than the freeways. I pull out my Thomas Bros and follow along.
I don’t understand your one word response “Baltimore”. I never worked in the city if that’s what you mean. The times I gave are for the commute from my home west of Charm City to Greenbelt.
My neighbor’s family moved to the US in the late 60s from Taiwan. They wanted to give her an American name to make it easier for her at school and with friends. She loved “I Dream of Jeannie” and her parents decided to call her Jeannie. She still uses that name today.
Small World: I found out that her family lived in Dundalk, MD and I told her my first apartment after college was there. She said their townhouse was right next to my apartment complex. Turns out my apartment building was right behind her house.
I have no issues with spending on mass transit as long as it doesn’t take away from spending on streets and highways. Because the fact remains that public transportation does not go where the vast majority of people work or live. No matter what the state, city, county does to offer public transportation, I will still have to drive my car to the bus or train station.
Yes, I grew up in SoCal, specifically a stone’s throw from the South Bay Curve of the 405. And I know that if I need to go northbound on the San Diego Freeway to get the Santa Monica Freeway it’s faster to get off 405 and take La Cienaga to Fairfax.
Now I live in the greater Seattle area, and freeway traffic here is worse than it is in LA.
One of my friends doesn’t drive and it takes him HOURS to get anywhere, because he has to go to the bus stop, wait for the bus . . . and if it’s full, he’s got to wait for the next one . . . then that bus goes only so far, at which point he gets off and waits for a different bus
Getting ANYWHERE is a major ordeal for him, in his situation
I’ve worked in Boston in a previous job and had to attend meetings in Boston in my last job…Public transit was by far the FASTEST and SAFEST way to go. Driving in Boston is a royal pain. Far easier hopping the commuter rail out of Methuen or Lawrence or driving down to Wellington Orange-line T. My commute into Boston was a consistent 1.2 hours. If there wasn’t any traffic I could drive into Boston in 25 minutes. But in general the drive was anywhere from 1.2 hours to 3 hours (each way).
I worked in Waltham for a few months. I could take public transportation to work, but that would be a royal pain and an extremely long commute. I’d have to take commuter rail or T into Boston, then the commuter rail out to Waltham, then a bus to within a block of work. 2-3 hours.
We spend money on mass transit and freeways. We’ve discovered that widening freeways doesn’t speed commutes but mass transit does. What won’t happen?
I assumed Baltimore. That’s very different.
It does in NYC and San Francisco.
Nobody rides the buses: they’re too crowded.
I’ve ridden the buses in LA, even from Santa Monica to Claremont. Most routes are much slower. I wasn’t talking about making you ride a bus but accommodating all those people who crowd LA’s Metro buses, especially if they get people out of their cars - wouldn’t that be a win for you?
My experience of Boston - and I get to sing ‘Charlie and the MTA’ during the ride.
You choose anecdotes over data - the anecdotes of motorheads.
People seem to like MARC. That’s not where you live to Greenbelt, of course, but for someone who lives walking distance to Penn Station and works walking distance from Union Station, or a stop on those lines… They call the passes CharmPasses.
Not data, opinion. The author of this study, Megan Kimble, is an investigative journalist with a masters in fine arts, not a scientist. Her current position is as a food writer, living in Tucson, Arizona, where she works as the managing editor of Edible Baja Arizona , a local-foods magazine serving Tucson and the borderlands.
I don’t doubt that widened highway slowly fill up over time. My question: are the safer? I’d think so. They completely redid Central Expressway (US75) in Dallas (the major N-S route). Gone are the 50’ entrance ramps from the cloverleaf: floor it and hope.
I used MARC in my example. Drive to the MARC station in Savage, ride MARC to the Greenbelt station, take a local bus from the MARC station to GSFC, walk from the south end of the campus to the north end where my office was.
My neighbor actually does take the route you suggest, then at Union Station takes the subway to the federal district where his office is. Public transportation is fine when it makes sense. For me it never has.
You did a 5-second Google search and a cut-and-paste of where the author was in 2015. That’s not what she’s doing or where she lives now. Perhaps you could have spent a few minutes to discover that she’s still an investigative journalist that wrote 2024 book called City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highways. I haven’t read the book and neither have you so let’s reserve judgement. The book gets good reviews (even by a traffic engineer).
I think my assessment of Ms Kimble is right on track based on her own words in this interview;
Question:Even with the new Reconnecting Communities program and Congress’ willingness to acknowledge the past harms and damage—specifically to communities of color—of highway construction, to what extent do you think anyone in control has grasped the notion that we’re still doing the same damage today? Has highlighting this fact become one of your primary aims with your book now that it’s wrapped?
Kimble: A few months before publication, my publisher asked me what my goal for this book was. I wrote down one phrase: Abolish the Highway Trust Fund.
All the interviews I could find for her about this book expressed the same sentiment. The book was written to promote the removal of inner city highways
I’ll repeat… not unbiased, not credible, just another excuse to stop building highways to force people into mass transit or city living
The internet typically returns results that are forever years old.
But Google, DuckDuck, and Yahoo do have qualifiers if only folks would use them. That would limit search results to the most recent week, or month if desired.
In a posted 55mph stretch, means that some trepidatious on-ramper a quarter mile up ahead of me can merge without me having to move over to the left, as I would have to were I going 60 or 65mph in a 55, as it seems you, and others, would insist I be doing.
Seriously db:
If I’m doing 60mph(posted is 55) in the RH lane, closing fast on a 40mph on-ramper, and you’re doing 60 in the lane to my left, would you really want me to swing into your lane in front of you - even if indicating my intention - to accommodate that on-ramper?
Ponder that for a moment, before rushing to reply.