We supposedly speak the same language as the British, but you wouldn't know it reading an article about cars. We're stumped by talk of bonnets (hoods) and boots (trunks) -- are we talking about a saloon (sedan) or a baby? In the UK, filthy old cars are called bangers, whereas we call them beaters (or as I called my '87 Camry it its final years, a piece-of-sh*t no air-conditioning slow-breaking rustpile with the acceleration of a wheelchair). Anyway, these beater/bangers are a big problem in the UK because while it's illegal to dump them on the street, the mandatory recycling is about $90. From personal experience, I wouldn't have spent $90 on my broken old 'Yoda for a new windshield in its final days even if it meant I could get an extra month of use out of it.
While $90 to get rid of a car you can just as easily drive into a ditch is too expensive, tacking that fee on to the cost of a new car would add a cost far below the shipping, inventory, registration and other fees new car buyers also pay. In some U.S. states, soda purchasers pay a deposit on the bottles and cans, redeemable upon return. Why not charge $150 at the point of purchase, half of which is redeemable upon junking?
The transit angle: Many transit agencies have found that getting rid of old rolling stock poses unique problems due to the small market for old rail cars and the presence of asbestos fireproofing in some models. New York got rid of many old Redbirds by simply dumping them into the sea (to make artificial reefs), while Berlin sold their soiled stock to North Korea for use on their strange subway system.
It has been said that no government program can survive if people can earn enough to buy or price themselves out. That's why we Social Security and Medicare are as big or bigger than they were decades ago, but Aid to Families With Dependent Children has been scrapped and home heating-oil subsidies are always getting shortchanged. In a society where everyone thinks they're higher-up on the income ladder than they think they actually are and predicts they'll die rich, nobody but the poor thinks they'll ever need these services, which is why transit often gets screwed in more car oriented cities.
In New York and London, the mayors take the subway and invest millions in the admittedly creaky systems. In the Big D, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick rolls up in a Lincoln Navigator:
Waiting for a bus on a slushy downtown corner earlier this week, 33-year-old Rhonee Williams made a vow. If a certain cherry-red 2005 Lincoln Navigator SUV happened to stop there, "I'm getting in it!"
Like many angry Detroiters, the clothing-store cashier feels entitled to a ride. She's upset because, at a time when Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is planning big budget cuts -- including cuts in bus service -- the city recently leased a luxury Navigator for the mayor's family using taxpayers' money.
It isn't surprising that in this beleaguered city built on the auto industry, such a vehicle has come to symbolize the community's frustration and outrage. People here know a status symbol when they see one. And they also know that many in this poor city can't afford cars at all.
That's why people huddled at the bus stop here viewed the "Navigate" scandal in the most basic terms. A bus ride costs $1.50, "and if you're short a quarter, you're turned off the bus," said Ms. Williams. The wait between buses can be hours here, and quarters mean something to people, so "it's ludicrous that the mayor would sell us on all these cuts and then get a car like that for his family," said Nadirah Muhammad, a 56-year-old office receptionist.
When transit is seen as only for the poor, it becomes poor itself.
"The American Dream: Visit Us At Our New Location"
Jennifer L. Dorn, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, invokes transit as the driving force behind the "American Dream" in a recent editorial in the The Arizona Republic. The article itself says nothing new -- it pushes transit-oriented development, something we here at LFTTR are very much in favor of. But she cases it in a rather flowerly language that seems designed to invoke deep emotional responses from people...something transit has never done (excluding train buffs and transit nerds, of course). Her article, of which she's written a number of variations, concludes:
It is about the development of a new American Dream for all Phoenix residents in the 21st century: those who are transplants from transit-oriented cities; those from freeway communities; those who are young, seeking new job opportunities; and those who are seniors, seeking an active retirement.
Transit-oriented development supports the timeless essence of the American dream of owning a home, of living in an attractive, vital community, of setting down roots and feeling part of a community, of enjoying a more leisurely pace of life.
It supports that dream with smart investments in public transportation that reduce dependence on the automobile and encourage housing development around transit hubs.
When it is done well, transit-oriented development lets a community hang a figurative sign on suburban sprawl that says, "The American Dream: Visit us at our New Location."
It's beautiful imagery, but it's not the way to convince people that transit is the way to go. "Dream" speaches work when they appeal to basic emotional responses in people -- the right to life, liberty, and property, as they say. It's going to take a lot more than flowerly language to convince people that transit is clearly tied into any of those three.
It was a bad day for the NYC subway today, when a fire set by a homeless man got out of hand and destroyed a communication center at the Chambers Street station, reports The New York Times. The fire caused so much damage that full service on the A and C lines may not be restored for 3 to 5 years, officials said.
As previously reported, New York is going ahead with a plan to fully automate the "L" line. Subway trains on the L line will become fully automated in June of this year. A single conductor will be on each train and will be in charge of operating the train...and opening and closing the doors. Union and City Council officials are opposed to the change, fearing that a single conductor could not handle an emergency evacuation.
Ouch. That's gotta suck. Normally you can at least blame the accident on idiot drivers, but what do you do when the mountains themselves start knocking your trains off the rails?
"...on the New York transit line
If my train goes off the track
Pick it up! Pick it up! Pick it up!"
-Black Sheep, "Be Faithful"
The New York Subway's 9 train, which I took to school when I took the subway and a 1 train didn't come first, has gone the way of the K train. This also means the death of Bronx/Upper Manhattan rush hour skip-stop service, which shaved four or five minutes off a trip from City College and points south to Van Cortlandt Park, minutes that count if you're a sleepy student.
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