[Sosfbay-discuss] going car free

[Andrea Dorey]

Rob,
I think that public transportation is just that, public AND a public  
service.  I think the less we charge and the more we support with  
taxes, the better.  We can clear a lot of cars off the road,  
including the Outreach cars that deliver seniors here and there, and  
get people hooked on letting someone else do the driving so they can  
knit, read, talk, etc.  We can clear the air faster; slow down the  
destruction of the  fertile valley floor (what's left of it), the  
farms (what's left of those), valued old buildings; ease our horrific  
traffic congestion; slow down damage to roads and highways; require  
fewer patrolmen; use up fewer hours of fire truck time; involve fewer  
people in accidents and ER repairs; and begin to empty parking lots.   
All of which will have a salutory effect on health for kids and  
seniors; in particular, asthma rates and other immune problems due to  
PMs/pollution.

We forget the horrible price we all pay for petrol-based  
transportation—and in real dollars.
Andrea


On Mar 20, 2007, at 9:25 AM, Rob Means wrote:

> After 6 years of pointing out the benefits of Personal Rapid Transit
> (PRT) to the VTA Board and staff, I'm very cynical about them doing
> anything outside their box.  They use 19th century technology (LRT) to
> solve 21st century transportation problems created by the automobile
> because the federal government doles out money for it.
> That may make some financial sense, but when you throw in the  
> operating
> costs, low ridership and near zero impact on car congestion, it looks
> like a boondoggle.  We could get a bigger bang for our buck by giving
> out thousands of electric bikes and scooters.
>
> Check the following link for an alternative to the (overly) expensive
> BART extension.  For about one-tenth the price, we can serve about  
> half
> the demand (which goes between the Fremont BART station and the Great
> Mall LRT station) and provide better service all along the route.
> http://www.electric-bikes.com/ciscofield.htm
>
> As for getting VTA bus service "up to snuff", how do you propose  
> paying
> for it?  Right now, the farebox only covers 20% of the operating  
> costs.
> Restoring recently-cut services requires money that the VTA claims not
> to have.
>
> Rob Means, Electro Ride Bikes and Scooters
> 408-262-8975   rob.means at electric-bikes.com
> 1421 Yellowstone Ave., Milpitas, CA 95035-6913
> Discover cycling that's Easy, Safe, Fast - and FUN!
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> --
> ---
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 09:33:49 -0700 (PDT)
> From: JamBoi <jamboi at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Sosfbay-discuss] going car free
> To: Jim Doyle <j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net>,	sosfbay discussion group
> 	<sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
> Message-ID: <472474.76245.qm at web52215.mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Locally we need to work on the VTA to get their service up to snuff.
> There are many adjustments to the routes taken, additional community
> bus runs,  speeding up of the Light Rail and killing the rediculously
> expensive BART extension in favor rail service (a fraction of the  
> cost)
> that could all make going car free in SCC *much* more workable.
>
> There is a VTA Rider's Union e-mail list that is moderately  
> active.  We
> (the GPSCC) could support this coalitional effort!  Here's the  
> eddress:
> http://www.vtaridersunion.org/
>
> Impeach for Peace!
>
> Drew
>
> --- Jim Doyle <j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>> Andrea wrote
>>
>> One of the issues that Nader used to talk about was that of
>> "facilities."  Without a decent and affordable transportation system,
>>
>> IMHO, we haven't the "facilities" to allow very many people to go car
>>
>> free.
>> Andrea
>>
>> My response is
>> granted, we do not have the "facilities."
>> So, how do we get them?  What do we do?
>>
>> earlier email was
>>
>> On Mar 13, 2007, at 9:54 PM, Jim Doyle wrote:
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> sosfbay-discuss mailing list
>> sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>> http://lists.cagreens.org/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss
>>
>
>
> Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 12:19:43 -0700
> From: Andrea Dorey <andid at cagreens.org>
> Subject: Re: [Sosfbay-discuss] going car free
> To: Jim Doyle <j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net>
> Cc: sosfbay discussion group <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
> Message-ID: <D89D5F4D-234F-46B5-9A2D-247B0DD33165 at cagreens.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;
> 	format=flowed
>
> I agree with Drew about bringing the services we have up to European
> standards (my term, not his).
>
> We also need to get multiple methods of transportation, including
> BART, going around the Bay Area and make it as user friendly as
> possible?that, IMHO, means allowing car/gas slaves to park their
> monsters for free until we have them hooked and out of their gas-
> guzzlers.  We cannot set impossibly high standards for people who are
> just starting to cope with $3.50/gallon and the reality of global
> warming.  It's going to be a gradual process.
>
> Andi
>
>
>
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