Historic Moment In Public Transit
Obama’s stimulus/transportation bill is coming. Smart cities have been pushing rail forward for their trunk corridors. Other cities, like San Francisco, will be happy with buses. The transportation version of the ‘digital divide‘ is coming to a town near you. Elite cities will plan and build for the future - for the long term. Other cities will be short-sighted, and will kick today’s problems down the road, leaving them to their children and their children’s children to clean up.
These ‘other cities’ will say, “Too tough,” “Too long,” “Too much drama,” and just “Too much.” Cities like Portland will Just Do It.
Will the residents of your town have access to high-quality transit, or will they be forced to move their talents to cities and towns with more open space, better transit, and less intimidating traffic patterns?’ Will your grandson and granddaughter, or niece or nephew, come visit you by bus or by rail? If they have to travel by bus, will they visit at all? Maybe less often than if they had access to quality transit?
The ‘transit divide’ is already starting to arrive. Portland has quickly become a showcase city for the world’s top cities to emulate. Bogota has quickly become a showcase city for the world’s other cities to emulate.
Battles are being fought by citizens all across the country. The Purple Line, on the Maryland side of DC, will probably go light rail, but only after a well-organized effort aimed at fighting the religion of BRT. There is no similar effort here in SF.
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