Originally Posted by
Mobile 155
No Roody, it is simply pointing to the idea that predicting the end of the Auto age is swimming up stream. You indicated a glut of road building and I am simply adding the disinchament the elected officials are showing for an alternative to cars and the building of more roads.
It all comes down to what the majority of voters want or are willing to put up with. To sell transpiration to the masses it has to be easier, spontainious, comfortable, and to a degree cater to individual wants.
Cars or personal transportation works because it gives the individual the freedom to leave the house at 7:41 to make it to the movie the person just learned was playing at 8:15 across town. Does that only happen once in a blue moon? Sure but the nature of our fellow citizens is to think of the possibility they might do just that.
Public transportation can meet some of those needs as can cycling. But one makes you dance to their schedule and the other requires physical effort that the majority has time and time again shown they would rather not do.
I just believe it will be close to impossible to change society to the point where the desire for personal possession is replaced.
News flash: they are no longer paying to support the highways either. The feds and most states have drastically cut spending. Haven't you been hearing about "crumbling infrastructure"? You should have noticed that half the links you were posting were for reductions in
Highway spending, not transit spending. Look at "Mass. transportation" again. This has nothing to do with mass transit--the state of Mass. is not paying as much for highways! The roads here in Michigan literally are crumbling--bad for cyclists and buses as well as cars. This is true for most states in the Union.
BTW, it was you who said there is a glut of road building in your area. This is not the case in most areas. (Nor should it be.)