genec

https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/...fic_congestion

The real news is that they seem to not be able to figure out how to relieve traffic congestion... I guess no one thought of putting folks on bikes instead of road hogging cars... D'OH!

ctyler

Amazing what people put up with because they can't figure out how to get to work without a car. I saw this story on the Madison, Wisconsin, newspaper web site and the local response was the following:

"He said state and regional governments are looking at several short- and long-term solutions, such as increasing the number of ramp meters on the Beltline, re-engineering the interchanges to increase the traffic flow and looking for funds to increase lanes on strained highways."

Increasing lanes never works.

There has been talk about a regional light rail, but it's needed now, not in 10 years. And again, people don't want to pay for it. But they'll pay for more roads. How stupid can you be?

genec

Here's more: https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070918/...usa_study_dc_1

Couple of key points: And then this classic conclusion... Gee, I guess the concept of "bicycles" never occurred to these guys...

Roughstuff

Whats worse than spending a week sitting in a car? A week sitting in a bus...so lets devolve ourselves of the fantasy that mass transit is an alternative to auto travel. In Japan, one of those places where massies go ga-ga over its train and subway systems, many cars now have mini-television and sound systems to entertain their riders for multi hour commutes.

How much more fun it is to ride a bike and sing!

roughstuff

Scummer

Not only do you sit a week in your car, but your big, fat 6liter 8 cylinder 450horsepower huge-ass SUV is guzzling the money out of your pocket while you sit idling on the road.

genec

And doing it's part to darken the skies with all those hydrocarbons... sigh.

Roughstuff

Yeah..i notice the skies in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Los Angeles, and London are just so much darker now than they used to be back in the 1950s, back when men were men, sheep were nervous, manufacturing was king, and there was far fewer cars on the road. Bring back the good old days!

roughstuff

genec

OK sigh... they don't "darken the skies," they fill it with invisible gases that convert to acid rain and smog, and while certainly we don't have the coal blackened skies of the past, we're still breathing whatever spews out of all those tailpipes.

noisebeam

I spend that much time if not more every year sitting/standing at the toilet.
Al

eubi

Absolutely false for LA. We have more clear days in LA than we ever had...with many more cars!

I remember the smog being so bad in the early 70's that sometimes you couldn't see two blocks. Now I can see the mountains on most days.

...and, I drive in this mess every day. Well, actually I carpool in it every day.

genec pulls out the key points:

1. More and more people move here.
2. We build homes a lot faster then we build roads.

The traffic in LA-Orange-Riverside-San Bernardino Counties, in my opinion, is the biggest detriment to the quality of life here. Many times I just prefer to stay home instead of going out.

I heard a factoid on the radio this morning. Right now, the average number of occupants per car in So CA is 1.1. IF the occupany rate was increased to only 1.3, there would be no congestion. Not sure about that, but it's an interesting number.

Not sure if that includes bike commuters in the mix. Probably not, and the low numbers of bike commuters probably wouldn't have a big effect anyway.

And I focus on cars, because for some of us, cycling to work is not an option. Niether is public transportation. For the distances and hours we work, we are stuck with our cars.

For the record, there are three of us in my carpool. I cycle from my house to the Park and Ride.

noisebeam

Perhaps they (particulates) do:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sun/

Al

Roughstuff

OK...sigh....having lost THAT ARGUMENT, on to the next .. (the luddite law of whining.)

Are you aware of the fact that the quantity of monoxides, ozones, and unburned hyrdocarbons is now FAR LESS than it was in the 1970s?

roughstuff

Roughstuff

All they need to do to change this is to allow anyone to act as a taxi and collect a fee from a passenger if they give them a ride to their destination. OF COURSE you'll never see these 'gypsy cabs' because local governments are cowed by Mass Transit unions (who would lose business) and the loss of Taxi license revenues. Another two reasons why i distrust mass transit.

roughstuff

dobber

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of driving 6 hrs every Monday & Friday to get to my off-site work.

That's 36 work days doing nothing but pushing the pedal and turning a wheel. After the first couple times though, I turned it into something much more productive. I'd use the down bound time to plan out my week, the trip back to review what happened. Also got pretty good at using the phone, found I could get wireless access at the Thruway stops.

And I caught up on a lot of literature via books on tape.

Would still have rather been on the bike though.

GreenGrasshoppr

I came here to say this.

One of my friends once commented on the aggravation of sitting in a bus congested with people, which was itself on a street congested with other vehicles.

While it's a pipe dream to get everyone to ride a bike, I think it would be feasible to get everyone in a small to medium city to ride electric golfcarts - cleaner vehicle, slower speeds means streets are safer for peds and cyclists, more parking room for everyone, etc.

noisebeam

I really enjoyed riding the bus to work. A time to relax, read. It did take quite a bit longer than cycling and was less 'fun' which is why I gave it up.
Al

caloso

The Bee ran the same story this morning. I suppose every paper in the country has printed one version or another of it. I thought about writing a letter to the editor extolling the virtues of bike commuting (especially for our flat and mild weather city) but couldn't figure out a way to write it without lecturing or gloating.

genec

Are you aware that there are many more cars out there spewing monoxides, ozones, and unburned hyrdocarbons... have you read the article? Did you notice the part where travel by auto has increased 105% but the available hiway pavement has only increased 45%, so all these vehicles are just sitting there putting out exhaust?

Care to draw any conclusions to that... or do you want to wait until the amount of traffic has increased to 200% and the results of "monoxides, ozones, and unburned hyrdocarbons" in idling cars IS quite visible?

eubi

Many of the larger companies here run vanpools.

Sorry, I'm not sure exactly how they work. I mean, do they go from the park and rides to the company? Do you have to WORK at the company? pay a fee? Do you rotate as drivers (you have to have a CA commercial license to drive these vans)?

The ones I see filling up at the park and ride are full up with 8 to 11 persons.

Another solution is that my company went to a 10hr - four day week. YAY! I don't have to drive on Friday...unless I have to work overtime...which I usually do

ovoleg

wow you are ignorant...do you know how far people work in LA? 30miles to work...

Scummer

30 miles commuting is certainly possible. I commute 29 miles with the bicycle one way. Takes me 2 hours one way and I'm sure it would take just as long with the car in LA traffic.

cowtown_cowboy

https://constantlyconstipated.com/calc.html
I guess i've spent more than 5,000 hours on le throne.
I am a "king of solitutde"!

noisebeam

I'm at 2476 lifetime hours and 67 hours per year.

Al

Roughstuff

The only unburned hydrocarbons I saw on my trip to boston last week was when (usually empty) buses spewed fumes every block pulling back into traffic.

Didn't need to read the article, that stuff is older news than Al Gore losing Florida. Alot more cars...but cleaner air in the cities, less carbon monoxide, less ozone, and no lead! Excuse me for being happy, I understand this is anathema for the loony left.

All this quibble about congestion. The CITIES are congested...and they are congested ONLY AT RUSH hours. So for a pittance of the whole country's surface, and a few hours in their day, the rest of us are supposed to get all warped and shell out a few trillion dollars. Sorry city slicker...no way.

roughstuff

roughstuff

ovoleg

ok i realize that you have absolutely no logic so I will try to explain this to you.

THERE IS TRAFFIC ON THE ROAD AT 8:00. 30+ miles for a fat soccer mom or someone out of shape is HARD.

OK HARD.

dude when I first started cycling 10 miles was hard. YOU WANT PEOPLE TO COMMUTE 30 MILES IN TRAFFIC?

Wow you guys in the midwest are hilarious