Originally Posted by
John Forester
One view of the urban planning profession is that, for decades, it has opposed motoring development, and has therefore been operating in a mode of trying to force people to do what they don't want to do. There is the other view, also, that part of the planning profession has been devoted to producing facilities that are suitable for motoring. It is pretty obvious that the latter part of the profession has succeeded while the former part of the profession has failed. After all, the complaints of many of the most vocal in this discussion prove that they believe in the above statements.
What will occur in the future is unknown. Some may have faith that the anti-motoring movement will prevail, but, on the basis of history and recognition of how and why the events of history occurred, I consider that, for quite a long time to come, most of our cities will be based on individual mobility. As far as cyclists are concerned, I consider that vehicular cycling will be the mode of choice as long as our individual planning horizons extend.
The argument is not no motoring vs. only motoring, it is all about providing choices. To spend 10% of the transportation budget for mass transit that only accommodates 10% of the mode share may sound like it may not be worthwhile doing as there is no clear advantage to mass transit. But we have conveniently left out significant other direct costs associated with motoring such as parking. Some don’t mind $150 a month parking others prefer the $64 a month MTA pass. It’s not about forcing anyone to make a choice but every mode of transportation has areas where it is more economically viable and areas where it is less economically viable.
The City’s unwillingness to tear down the Legg Mason building to increase road capacity has nothing to do with “forcing” people to use mass transit or being anti-motoring, it is simple economics. Accommodating motoring works till it doesn’t work well and mass transit works till it doesn’t work well. Where each of these modes of travel fails is approximately where the other mode works best. It is your views that force people into one and only one travel mode, it is the so called anti-motoring crowd that is giving people choices about traveling.