09 February 2008

Some thoughts on transit.

I'm all about mass transportation. It's awesome. And you could say Portland has a pretty darn good system, with busses, and streetcars, and light rail. It even has an aerial tram for goodness sakes. If you take the tram out of the equation, I've ridden on portland's mass transit exactly zero times since we moved here. And for the first 6+ months that we lived here we only had one rally car, so you'd think (with all my trips to and from work and school) that at least once I'd have taken the bus. Nope. I rode my bike. So this isn't true for everyone (fitness wise), but I think I can get anywhere in this city, except for perhaps beaverton (there's a big hill) if I'm on my bike vs riding the bus or trains. It's slow!!! and the streetcar is even slower. I think the average speed is like 10mph. It's almost a joke. And the mass transit in this city has cost portland millions and millions. Wait no, billions. You'd think, since America is supposedly the smartest, richest, educated and most technically advanced civilization in the world that we'd think of the best way to get people from point a to point b, in an efficient, fast and low cost method. NOPE. but they are in Bogota, Columbia. Bogo-freaking-ta. You know in south america. Check it, it's 7 minutes.


While I'm at it... here's another you tube. Gotta love LOST.

1 comment:

saschasdad said...

That is a very good video. Even better is the number of times you've used public transportation since moving to Ptown. It's more than just America (i.e., federal govt) getting people from A to B; I think that's a pretty good system that is private - airplanes, trains, buses, etc. Hm, perhaps being private is why they do an okay job (I realize they are all federally subsidized). However, getting people from A to B on a more local and regional level is definitely where the problems lie. And maybe that's where the Bogo-freakin'-ta video comes into play. Good find.