Comments on: Pains, Trains and Automobiles http://ourpdx.com/2009/05/pains-trains-and-automobiles/ Collaborative coverage of news and events, with a focus on community. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:57:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: moodymeow http://ourpdx.com/2009/05/pains-trains-and-automobiles/comment-page-1/#comment-5357 moodymeow Thu, 14 May 2009 19:37:22 +0000 http://ourpdx.com/?p=5285#comment-5357 Jonah, I agree with the sentiment of your argument, but the reality is that more people would drive, not bike. I think biking does get you there faster and it's much easier to find parking downtown for two bikes than it is for one car. But perhaps this system will keep a few cars off the road. I'm always one to hope. Jonah,

I agree with the sentiment of your argument, but the reality is that more people would drive, not bike. I think biking does get you there faster and it’s much easier to find parking downtown for two bikes than it is for one car. But perhaps this system will keep a few cars off the road. I’m always one to hope.

]]> By: Jonah http://ourpdx.com/2009/05/pains-trains-and-automobiles/comment-page-1/#comment-5351 Jonah Thu, 14 May 2009 15:00:57 +0000 http://ourpdx.com/?p=5285#comment-5351 If you're in a hurry, as most commuters are, public transit will never be the way to go. At least not downtown. You can walk faster than the MAX or Streetcar. All this public transit build out, while perhaps well-meaning, is still fundamentally framing the solution in the same terms as the problem. The solution is not finding a better way to have your body transported about by an external machine, the solution is to power yourself: bike. Take all the money and build bike corridors. For the vast majority of people, bikes will work. Leviathan machines that creep around at snail's pace do not do anything other than consume space and money. And have you been on the MAX lately? Bit of a freak show. The solution is not more technology. It's less. Get all this stuff out of the way and let people move under their own power. If you’re in a hurry, as most commuters are, public transit will never be the way to go. At least not downtown. You can walk faster than the MAX or Streetcar.

All this public transit build out, while perhaps well-meaning, is still fundamentally framing the solution in the same terms as the problem. The solution is not finding a better way to have your body transported about by an external machine, the solution is to power yourself: bike.

Take all the money and build bike corridors. For the vast majority of people, bikes will work. Leviathan machines that creep around at snail’s pace do not do anything other than consume space and money. And have you been on the MAX lately? Bit of a freak show.

The solution is not more technology. It’s less. Get all this stuff out of the way and let people move under their own power.

]]> By: Meghan H http://ourpdx.com/2009/05/pains-trains-and-automobiles/comment-page-1/#comment-5345 Meghan H Wed, 13 May 2009 22:48:30 +0000 http://ourpdx.com/?p=5285#comment-5345 Not to be too self-centered, but why, oh why, did TriMet have to stop the ONLY two buses that will get me home in under an hour from crossing downtown? Oh, how I long for the days when the #10-Harold and the #14-Hawthorne stopped a block from my office (and at the same stop, so if I missed one, I could take the other.) It just reinforces my choice to bike to work instead of using TriMet. Cheaper, faster, and it's door-to-door service! Not to be too self-centered, but why, oh why, did TriMet have to stop the ONLY two buses that will get me home in under an hour from crossing downtown? Oh, how I long for the days when the #10-Harold and the #14-Hawthorne stopped a block from my office (and at the same stop, so if I missed one, I could take the other.)

It just reinforces my choice to bike to work instead of using TriMet. Cheaper, faster, and it’s door-to-door service!

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