http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/is_mass_transit_a_waste_of_energy_/Content?oid=961254
test out the link and it takes you to the right place.
I got this article from creative Loafing, a local small time newspaper that I sometimes I read. the article is mainly about 2 opposite points of view about whether or not mass transit actually saving energy or not. It ends with the main idea that it all depends on how one plays with the numbers.
the article pointed out something about California or Los Angles. Either way I ran into a female person that was in Los Angles and she told me that the public transit there was great. She compared it to Atlanta bus system, which she described it as horrible. oh, background on her. She spend some time traveling around the country by foot and hiking.
Anyway, I decided to check one of her claims and it turn out to be true. She claimed that the buses go there about every 5 minutes. I went on line and found that it was true. There was even one route that went every 3 minutes. Compare to the bus system here in Pinellas and Hillbure County which runs on the hour and half-hour. oh yeah, I'm the long hair Indian that uses public buses to get about.
One last point, this article reminded me on a show that I saw many, many moons ago that relates to this article on how people can play with numbers. The article was about electric cars and how they don't pollute the air. that is right but the Power Plant that produces the electrics to power up the electric cars produces "more" pollution than a gas power car. Don't know if that's true but it is something to think about.
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I spent most of December in Los Angeles and I must admit that I succumbed to the car culture and drove everywhere. I do love mass transit but I much prefer forms of rail over bus, assuming the rail is a good system (such as NY, Washing DC, or many international cities). Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to use the Metro in LA. I was staying near (walking distance) to UCLA and I was extremely surprised to find there wasn't a metro station within miles of UCLA! I was very surprised at this since a major university (not to mention all the employement centers in nearby westwood and century city) would be a very logical place to extend a line to.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I did not take the bus when I was there I can definately see it as a more viable form of bus system than we have in Tampa. Of course LA is about 10 times the size of Tampa too, and much denser in some areas which helps. One thing about LA I was very excited to find was that it is much more cyclist friendly than Tampa. Many roads had bike lanes and the drivers seemed to be more aware (and tolerant by the way) of cyclists sharing the road. In fact in many situations of sitting in traffic, I can definately see how being a cyclist in LA is a much much faster way to commute than car.
I ride the bicycle and the bay area is not very bike friendly. Everybody is too busy talking on their cell phones when driving around.
ReplyDeleteMass transit is a waste of energy if no one is using it. I feel sometimes that mass transit in Tampa might be a little bit wasteful because not as many people as expected are using the public buses. Although, the USF shuttle sounds like a very environmentally friendly mass transit however, I most often see if going around with no one riding it. I am sure it helps a lot but it goes really slow making the cares behind it have more exhaust and it doesn't have that many people riding in it sometimes. I still like to go to school with the shuttle thats why I live really close to USF
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