Ann wrote, in part,
We're planning a car-free vacation to Chicago for a few days this summer. Amtrak has a buy one get one free (and kids half-price) deal so we can all three go from La Crosse to Chi and back for $87.50! Then, Chicago has the CTA pass (similar to the day card in Amsterdam) where for one low price ($5-one day, $9-two days, $12-three days, $18-5 days) you can ride any CTA bus or train any time as much as you want during the life of the pass. (Now I just need to find a similar deal on LODGING!)It is not cool to ride the bus. Kunstler's book Geography of Nowhere is often cited where he says that buses in America seem to have neon signs over the doors that say "losers enter here".
I thought of this because in places where buses are integrated with other forms of private and public transport (I think of the Netherlands because I've experienced how it works there) then buses are not seen as "loser transportation" I think, but rather as one of the elements of the whole. You walk, bike or take the bus to the neighborhood train station Then you take the train to the town where you work, then you take the bus to your work place (or maybe you have a second bike in the secure bike parking facility at the second train station.)
In this way, all the parts - from walking to trains - fit together to move people efficiently and cost-effectively where they need and want to go.
I keep thinking that Western Wisconsin - or maybe even all of Wisconsin, could be like the Netherlands with interconnecting bike routes and other public transport routes that link with each other - affordably and on a decent, realistic time table (like why would you take the bus if you could crawl there faster?) - to move people from one part of the state to another.
Now, here in La Crosse, if you want to get to a community that's just 12 or 15 miles away you MUST drive a car - there is NOT public transportation. This not only helps drive the "need" for more and bigger highways, it also ensures that some people are stuck with the jobs and services that are (un)available where they live.
Having an interconnected multi-modal system would, I think, also put the bicycle in its proper place - as a legitimate and wonderful TRANSPORTATION tool - part of a system, rather than as a recreational toy. If people had neighborhood transportation hubs that connected with city-wide, then regional hubs, they might start to see and use their bikes in this way.
This, to me, is why it's legitimate for bike advocates to also be advocates of other modes of efficient, affordable public transportation and why having both buses and trains is important - each to do what it can do best.
- cathy in la crosse
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