[Sosfbay-discuss] going car free

[Rob Means]

Andrea,

Perhaps I gave the wrong impression.  I favor public/clean/efficient
transportation options.  I'm aggrieved that the chosen modes (BART and
LRT) cost so much and produce such poor results.  We can do much better.
VTA, as an organization and a process, tends to ignore modern transit
options.  And jitneys. And CNG buses.  And the synergies of a campaign
promoting electric bikes, trikes and scooters.  And (while I'm ranting)
VTA should give us back bike lanes and the right to walk on the
expressways that they took away.

Clearly, cleaning the air is important to public health.  Based on
results, however, the big bucks we're spending on LRT are not helping
clean the air because even more cars are coming to dirty it.  To
paraphrase something I read this morning, it's not that we're not doing
something; it's that we're not doing nearly enough.  In the 90's was the
time to think incrementally.  Now, the crises are so looming that big
changes are required - and quickly.  

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!
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-----Original Message-----
From: Andrea Dorey [mailto:andid at cagreens.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 5:36 PM
To: Rob Means
Cc: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
Subject: Re: [Sosfbay-discuss] going car free

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!
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

> --