Transportation Should Be Pleasant, Speed Is Overrated
Whether walking, or biking, or taking transit - one’s journey should be pleasant. It should be enjoyable. It must, at a minimum, be dignified — but really, it should strive to be much more than just dignified.
This is why bus travel must not be tolerated any longer — it is not even dignified, much less pleasant. This is why bus rapid transit (BRT) should not even be considered. This is why we should rebel against tacky full-bus or full Muni streetcar ads that obscure passengers’ view of the outside world - even if they’re advertising what looks to be a surftastic escape to Costa Rica.
When we travel from place to place, we should not just worry about getting from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible, as many BRT proponents would suggest - what kind of life would this be? Racing from one point to the next with the only objective being to ‘get there’?
Instead, we should worry about that trip being dignified, safe, pleasant, efficient, inexpensive, possibly even quick or fast. Perhaps it should be all of these things, but a concentration on ’speed’ over ‘dignity’ or other very real aspects of transportation completely misses the point.
Even us cyclists have been lured into ‘the speed game’ — not that we’re to blame. We’re doing our best to making cycling viable and using all the awesome aspects of cycling to our advantage — but speed is just one of our myriad advantages over motorized transport.
And I want to make sure we don’t put up with ‘crappy little bike lanes’ for longer than we have to. Cycling next to multi-thousand pound chunks of glass and steel as they roar and spew next to us is not dignified — we deserve better.
And walkers deserve better. And transit riders deserve better. Speed is but one of the myriad attributes of transportation.
[Image: Flickr/squishy]
Leave comment (5)[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]
December 19th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I’m sure that getting rid of buses will benefit everyone, not!
Bikes are an important part of transportation in SF, and I am 100% behind the SF Bike plan. But the truth is the Buses are the workhorse of the transportation network in SF and move more people in this city than bikes, trains, or cars. I think we should critcally analyze all transportation projects, even though I disagree with you on BRT.
I am a proud cyclist and and a proud transit rider who loves his bike and loves to ride transit in this city, be it Muni metro, BART, or bus, even though, quite frankly, the system sucks. I do realize that many people find buses undignified, but guess what? They are part of network of transportation alternatives in a city that a very stupid to drive a car in.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Nick - I’ve made this argument before, but just because something exists now does not mean that it should exist, and it does not mean that we should allow it to continue to exist.
Slavery used to be legal in the United States. To say that it was an incredibly important to the economic and social fabric of day-to-day society would be understatement, but people decided it was not right, so they got rid of it.
Ditto with the auto industry - it’s important to the u.s. economy, jobs, housing, etc. Maybe it would not be wise to just shut it down overnight, but that should not stop us from shutting it down. If we have to do it gradually, fine - let’s do it.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I understand that buses are undignified, but that doesn’t mean they should be equated with slavery. If buses are as evil as slavery, than we might as well eradicate the entire public transit system, because like I said, buses are the workhorse of that system, the system can’t survive without them.
This does not mean we should put buses over bikes and pedestrians, but keep them as a part of the city’s transit first policy:
1) Pedestrians
2) Bicycles
3) Transit
4) Taxis
5) Carpools
6) Commercial Vehicles
7) Single-Use Passeger Automobiles
And for the transit catigory:
1) Trunk Bus Network
2) Muni Metro
3) Local Bus Network
4) Streetcars
5) BART
6) Express Buses
December 19th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
i’m not trying to equate buses with slavery - i am, however, trying to equate the _need_ for slavery with the _need_ for buses. we don’t need buses, and we don’t need slavery. and look at that, legalized slavery is gone. how did it happen? it didn’t happen by everyone standing around saying, “But we can’t live without slaves!” — in fact, many if not most, people were saying exactly this. but a small, vocal minority stood up and said, “No - no more slavery - no matter what - I don’t care what depends on who, where people are making all their money - it’s not right and we’re not going to put up with it anymore.” Finally, thank goodness, more people eventually saw the light.
buses are the workhorses of our current transportation system, just like slaves were the workhorses of our former plantation systems. as i said in my last comment, i’ve said previously, and i’ll say until i’m blue in the face - the fact that something exists right now is not a justification for its continued existence.
thank god we got rid of slavery. hopefully we can do the same for the bus system.
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
[...] After all, Alex noted in his comment that LA turned its back on public transportation, which isn’t entirely accurate. It’s just that LA’s public transportation system - second, in terms of total mileage, only to New York City - doesn’t actually make sense to those of us who have the time and the economic capacity to sit down and blog about biking. Most of us have cars. If we don’t, we’re of a certain income bracket where we could have a car if we wanted but don’t on principle or economics or what have you. Is public transportation what LA has now - a messy, crowded, over-subscribed way that still, in spite of everything, gets people around the city when they have no other way to get around? Or is public transportation something that might be pleasant? [...]