Where I live there was once lots of Mass Transit. You can still trace
the old interurban and some of the local trolley lines, some have been
made into linear parks. Unless you have a certain level of population
density and no other alternatives they just aren't economically viable.
The NY, HN & H Railroad bought up every trolley line between NY and
Boston around the turn of the last century and destroyed itself as a
viable economic entity in the process. The trolley building boom
happened everywhere on the East Coast and elsewhere where there were
sizable urban populations in the US. Only a few survived. If you look
into it you'll probably find that there were even trolley lines where
you live. Cities and larger towns would get their streets paved by
letting the trolley company put in lines and requiring them to pave the
road around the right of way. The rights of way reverted to the owners
of the land and cities, when the companies went bust as most did, (they
regularly went bust before the advent of cars, and the municipality
would take over the lines within their jurisdiction, after cars became
affordable and the bicycle clubs demanded and got good roads the
trolleys didn't stand a chance, and neither did the bicyclists). The
tracks either were left to rust buried under pavement or pulled up for
scrap over the last 100 years.
Bob Shell wrote:
>On Sep 29, 2006, at 11:10 AM, frank theriault wrote:
>
>
>
>>What I'm against the the needless use of cars. Daily commutes when
>>transit's available. Those 5 block drives to the corner store to buy
>>beer. We have to understand that cars are bad for the environment.
>>Because each individual car doesn't appear to do much harm, it's all
>>to easy to say, "Oh well, this one little trip won't make a
>>difference." - but when hundreds of millions of drivers each day say
>>that, the affects are huge.
>>
>>
>
>Unfortunately, in many parts of the USA there is no mass transit.
>The town I live in has no bus service and no passenger train service,
>so if I go anywhere that's not in walking distance it has to be by
>car. It was very short sighted for this country not to install mass
>transit in the past, and now they say it is too expensive to build
>now. One thing I love about going to Europe is being able to go most
>places by train. I don't hate cars, but it is hard to really see
>things when you must pay attention to the road and the idiot drivers
>who are everywhere.
>
>Bob
>
>
>
--
Things should be made as simple as possible -- but no simpler.
--Albert Einstein
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