Originally Posted by
Ekdog
Your last sentence is the key. Why isn't there decent mass transit in so many parts of the United States, and what are you doing to change that? You should be outraged that poor mothers like the one you mention should be forced to rely on the most expensive form of transit we know, the private car. Some are even poorer and have no car at all and no way to get to a job if they had one. You're a man of the cloth and a respected member of your community. Why aren't you pushing for mass transit instead of lashing out at anyone who speaks out against a system that keeps so many desperately poor?
Well, for starter, not everyone lives in an urban area. I live in a rural community. I would LOVE to have mass transit in this area; but the only way it would 'work' would be if it were very expensive. Mass transit 'works' in urban areas because a lot of users spread the cost of building and operating that infrastructure. In a town of 3,000 people that spreads out quite a ways, I can't fathom how busses, for example, would work. And where would they go? We have school busses for kids, of course. Though the cost is tremendous. New York City has 2,800 miles worth of bus routes spread across hundreds of busses and millions of users. In order to have the same sort of bus coverage just in this county; assuming we start by just supporting those who live and work in this county; and maybe an extra bus or two to St. Louis for those who commute into the city to work; we could easily have tens of thousands of miles of bus routes serving just a few tens of thousands of people (and that assumes EVERYONE starts using the bus).
There are actually a lot of things we DO do. For example, we have commuter lots along the interstates where folks can meet up and ride together to work, saving gas. Of course, even getting TO the interstate could be 7 or 8 or 10 or 15 miles. And sure, any fit young cyclist would think that's no problem. But again, that's time some families just don't have and it's not always feasible. But the commuter lots work great. Usually packed with cars that are parked there while their owners all climb into someone elses vehicle; usually, they rotate who drives.
I've lived in Urban, Suburban, and Rural areas. And one thing I've noticed is that most rural folks have no concept of what it's like to live in an urban environment; and likewise, most urban folks have no clue what the world looks like outside the city limits.
And finally, that sort of entirely misses the point. I would love to see better mass transit options. I would love to see ways to reduce dependency on the automobile or at least it's improvement (improvements to electric cars, for example). But what was proposed, and what I was commenting on, wasn't a suggestion that we improve mass transit, improve cars, or incentivize those who use alternative transportation. The solution proposed was that we heavily tax and penalize car drivers so that only wealthy people can use them. That's the solution I'd have a problem with.