Comments on: Another Step in Reducing Auto Dependence

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:12:10 +0000

And your point is?

By: I \v/ NY

I \v/ NY — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:41:45 +0000

well i dont think these households you talk of choose to take a bus that runs once every hour and a half on weekdays only to the supermarket on the outskirts of town as is the case in most small cities. these are not choice transit riders. choice transit riders are only in the major cities where it is easy and pleasant to live car-free.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:23:15 +0000

secondly living without an auto only works near the heart of a major city with a halfway decent transit system and in neighborhoods with a variety of goods and services available and with sidewalks...

So then why do most cities, even small ones, have about 10% of households car-free? Living car-free in these places may not be much fun, but it "works" in terms of survival.

By: Cephas

Cephas — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:02:33 +0000

"Never give someone a route you wouldn’t ride yourself.…" That's good advice, but personally, my rule is that I never give most people the routes I ride. I don't want to scare anybody! and my routes often involve more faster traffic than most people are comfortable with. So, I analyze carefully the routes I give out so that I don't scare anybody off from biking from the first route!

By: I \v/ NY

I \v/ NY — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:27:02 +0000

well first the auto dependent person has to be willing to try traveling without an auto. most of them literally can not comprehend life outside their car, to them its about as odd an idea as living on the north pole.

secondly living without an auto only works near the heart of a major city with a halfway decent transit system and in neighborhoods with a variety of goods and services available and with sidewalks...

considering that, that doesnt leave too many places left, so I can completely understand the extreme dependence on the auto. if you lived in ultra-suburbia of course youre only going to travel by auto. this only works by self-selection where all those that like a car-free lifestyle move to and live in/near the central city.

By: Courtney

Courtney — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:40:03 +0000

When I moved back to my hometown of St. Louis, I moved to an area that was easily accessible to transit since my options seemed to be buying a car or paying for student loans and health insurance. Pretty easy choice for me.

Now I just appreciate the lifestyle...biking to my station, the extra exercise and chance to read during my commute. And I lot of my friends think similarly. It's not as easy to do in St. Louis as some metropolitan areas, but I think it's a choice more people are making. Why spend hours traveling in a car when we could live near restaurants, theaters, parks, transit within a walkable or bikeable distance?

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:30:09 +0000

The original blog post for the footprints program explains it better: some of the itineraries they plan are quite complex. In NYC we are used to a compact city with easy visibility of transit options; this is apparently not the case in Chicago. It would be great to do a study after a year to see how many people are still using their routes (or not using their cars) in order to attract funding to the project.