I've been published locally

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

Another thing to look at is, on a per-person basis, having 30 people in a bus is a heck of a lot less polluting that a single person in a car, no matter how efficient it is...

I don't know..... older buses can be horribly polluting. Spend some time in an established US urban area behind a bus, especially a diesel bus. I used to use it as a curse, "May you be stuck behind a bus!" When you consider that cars made in 2009 probably are a hundred times less polluting than cars made in the 1980s we're not talking less pollution unless the bus is of recent manufacture.

At least in Pennsylvania I don't think that Mass Transit has to submit to emissions checks. Many of the buses SEEM to be of 1980s manufacture or somewhat later and because they're diesel transport they are not subject to emissions checks. We're talking about partial asphyxiation here if you're stuck behind one for periods of time.

Where mass transit shines is the utilization of capital costs. An automobile spends a LOT of its life parked unless the person uses it for business or work. Buses are usually on the move throughout the day, we hope hauling folks here and there, but at least they're on runs and are available for anyone who wants them.

Where automobiles shine is that they give people a lot more flexibility in their lives. You're not at the mercy of a bus schedule. This is especially important in rural areas where people don't have much access to taxi cabs or buses and almost none in the evenings.

Gene

[eTiMaGo]

true, good point about the old buses, we more than our fair share of black smoke-belching ones too...

[supmet]

^^ buses around here run on CNG




The read was interesting, but it just reinforced my ideas about public transportation. If we had anything remotely close to the mass transit systems found all across europe, I'd sell the yaris today. Even some east coast cities would be livable without a vehicle. Unfortunately with congressmen on the bankroll of detroit for so long, public transportation has taken a backseat to everything else. For me to get to LA, a 30 minute car ride, take 5 minutes walking, 35 minutes on a bus, 20 minutes waiting, 30 minutes on a train, and then another bus ride wherever you are going. Monthly train passes can run 300 dollars depending on where you are going, bus passes are around 45. If it were closer to 1/3 the cost of driving, rather than 2/3, I would be more willing to spend over 3 times as long to get where I was going. Throw in the added stress of poorly marked stations, and finding your way around unfamiliar places, and forget about it.

Then there's a couple hundred thousand people living in victorville and working in the inland empire or LA. They all have NO public transportation available to them.

I applaud you for sacrificing yourself for the good of the environment, but the US has a long, long way to go before the average joe will consider public transport.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by supmet

Even some east coast cities would be livable without a vehicle.

My Mom, a Pittsburgh PA native, didn't drive until she was in her mid twenties because she could ride the bus anywhere she needed to go. In the 1980s, before the light rail system went into the Pittsburgh, I didn't need a car for about two years while I lived down there.

Things are even better now with light rail transit and it better be given how much money is spent on PAT (Port Authority Transit, Pgh's transit authority) and SEPTA (South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority, Philly's transit authority). Drivers for PAT are paid exorbitant wages, over thirty bucks an hour, to drive bus. They also get lavish pensions, more than those of us in the "private sector" receive.

Nice that SoCal mass transit runs on CNG. We're still in the diesel age out here and does it stink with the older units.

Gene