Took a ride on the new Seattle light rail the other day.
I have always personally thought public rail transit systems are awesome. To me they represent a level of social responsibility and some pretty damn cool engineering.
Regardless, America has had a love affair with personal automobiles for quite some time and is relatively lacking in fully realized public transportation systems in comparison to other nation-states.
I support work for more wide-spread, affordable and as always environmentally minded public transportation, specifically rail systems be they underground metros or city-surfing mono's. The added safety of in-line transport systems not banking fully on fallible human guidance is a nice plus too.
Our little island city of Ketchikan probably won't be seeing any really developed systems based on the observable lack of demand, but in larger more urban settlements they're always a cool sight to behold.
Eh, I guess an innate fascination with trains possibly comes with the territory of being male.
I think the time may be soon when America, gasping for oil products, begins to look at cross-continental rail lines. Some sort of mag-lev, perhaps. I don't want to say we're headed in a green direction because there's still too many people that want a personal, gas-guzzling explosive-on-wheels (including me). But someday...
I love the seattle light-rail! Except that I really had to pee at the time. The idea of focusing more on public transit is one I love, but not for environmental reasons. Can't explain it, but should I have to? :P
I seriously thought I already posted... huh. Not motivated to re-write, especially since Catalyst has my same example covered. $2, anywhere in the city under an hour, convenient scheduling... Portland's well integrated public transport systems are a marvel of civic engineering. I rode the train just for fun a couple times. Really easy to not pay for, too. Also winco.
Portland honestly had an awesome bus/train/max system. You go to trimet.org and can get from anywhere to anywhere around Portland, Beaverton, and a few other outside-Portland areas. It was quick and pretty simple to get anywhere, even if you didn't know what you're doing. Most of the time I was lost I was actually on foot.
The system was simple and clean and very very affordable. It's the only time I've actually enjoyed a transportation system.
Ketchikan's sucks. I know there was a meeting two months ago about "The future of Ketchikan's Transportation" or something that probably was just a placebo meeting to make people think we're actually doing something... Who knows?
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The system was simple and clean and very very affordable. It's the only time I've actually enjoyed a transportation system.
Ketchikan's sucks. I know there was a meeting two months ago about "The future of Ketchikan's Transportation" or something that probably was just a placebo meeting to make people think we're actually doing something... Who knows?
That's my three cents in a nutshell...
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