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Subject: 
Re: Mass transit (nee Age) Limitations
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Fri, 7 Jul 2000 03:40:51 GMT
Viewed: 
185 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler writes:
I have no doubt that an effective mass transit system is possible, and in
some regions even necessary, but in the (only) five cities where I've lived,
mass transit couldn't compete against cars for convenience.  I guess that's my
thesis, in fact; mass transit can be a very effective means of transport, but
it won't become a full-fledged alternative until it is of approximately equal
convenience, both in terms of personal cost and personal availability.


And one day you'll (maybe) be grocery shopping for a family of 4, and you'll
think Wow, it would suck to have to carry all this on the trolley, every week.

I'm a do-things-for-yourself kind of guy. Yet my NLSO thinks it's great when we
can pay somebody else to carry our groceries. I won't do it. (Pay, I mean.) But
in New York, we can--if we want to-- walk 3 blocks to the grocery store and just
pay them to deliver what we pick out (it's actually free if it's more than $25.)
That's how they do things since people don't necessarily drive.

Queens finally got its first suburban-style, super-mega-supermarkets, the paint
is even still shiny (maybe from covering graffiti.)  So we got a car just for
that! We drive to the store and get $300 worth of food, AFTER priceline, two
baskets stuffed to the brim and the racks too, and inundate the cargo hold. It's
a major, four hour undertaking done quarterly. (I got to get some Lego, too, at
our first Target store. Yippie.) When we get the battle wagon home, we have to
schlep the goods through the service entrance, inundate the elevator, and then
keep the elevator parked on our floor while unloading. (Oh yeah, I get to finish
this part while she hunts for a legal parking spot.)

Sooner or later, I am going back to the land of the circular driveway and
freezer in the garage!



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Mass transit (nee Age) Limitations
 
(...) Perhaps you misunderstood my point; I'm asserting that trolleys and the like *do not* equal the convenience of a car, and they likely never will. In fact, every week I do the grocery shopping for my family of two, lugging the bags the 1/4 mile (...) (24 years ago, 7-Jul-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Age limitations
 
(...) I have no doubt that an effective mass transit system is possible, and in some regions even necessary, but in the (only) five cities where I've lived, mass transit couldn't compete against cars for convenience. I guess that's my thesis, in (...) (24 years ago, 6-Jul-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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