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I disagree with Abulifia's description of motor traffic as "the
gunshot wound", and with his description of the conditions necessary
for "serious consideration of mass transit in California." I
also disagree with the conclusions stated in the article in Saturday's
UT. <br><br>
Nowadays, by and large, motor traffic congestion drives business
away. This leads to decentralization, which makes it much less
economic for mass transit. There a few cities in which mass transit has
propped up the urban centers. Manhattan in NYC is the prime example,
Boston is less so. But these are old cities in which the mass transit
system was developed before the prevalence of auto traffic. San Francisco
is the only modern example, with BART propping up the SF financial
district. I think that the extent to which San Diego's mass transit props
up its downtown is small, despite the success of the traffic from
Tijuana. <br><br>
The individual chooses motoring over the other competing modes when that
decision provides the most benefit to him or her. If conditions occur
that make motoring very difficult, there will be enormous dislocation in
both economic and social activities that mass transit will not be able to
solve. Even the extent to which mass transit would alleviate those
difficulties is beyond prediction today. <br><br>
I also think that the proposal for mass transit along 805, as desired by
the Normal Heights residents and as promised by Caltrans, was never well
thought out by either party, and that failure was not noted by the
reporter, either. Just having a "station" is only the beginning
of a story and does nothing for the analysis. <br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
At 07:20 AM 1/14/2008, Abulifia wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font face="Verdana" size=2>And
there lies the crux of the matter. Mass transit does not equal the
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ San Diego County can collect in tolls from
individual vehicles. When toll lanes reach critical mass, and those
lanes are just as congested and clogged as the regular routes, and gas
goes up to $10.00/gallon, only THEN will mass transit be given serious
consideration in California. Until then Caltrans, just like the
feds, will continue to dance around the issue and apply band aids to the
gunshot wound. </font></blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
John Forester, MS, PE<br>
Bicycle Transportation Engineer<br>
7585 Church St.<br>
Lemon Grove, CA 91945-2306<br>
619-644-5481
<a href="http://www.johnforester.com/" eudora="autourl">
www.johnforester.com<br>
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