American Values Alliance | Practical voice for progressive valuesAmerican Values Alliance | Practical voice for progressive valuesMotivated by soaring prices at the pump, record numbers of commuters are parking their cars in favor of mass transit. Miami, L.A. and Boston are already seeing dramatic increases in the use of public transportation.
Though the use of subways, elevated trains and busses reduces individual fuel consumption and contribution to greenhouse gasses, many of these cities are struggling to absorb these unbudgeted increases in usage. In Miami, for example, citizens are ramping up their demands that the rail system be extended; however, in cities like Indianapolis, there has been a frightening dearth of discussion about expanding the number or frequency of routes overall or about adding above ground or subway trains. In fact, IndyGo has only made modest changes in routes, which include reductions as well as a new route for the downtown area and an express bus from Carmel to the downtown area.
Employers continue to experience difficulty in finding service sector employees. They've remarked that they know the workers they need are there, but the transport system doesn't support them in getting to work or, for many, getting them quickly from one job to another.
Not sure what the city or its mayor is considering with respect to expansion in public transportation, but I certainly hope that in this, we don't wait until it becomes an emergency before taking decisive action (um, like we're currently doing in terms of the pre-summer crime wave we've been experiencing). Gas prices in Europe are almost double what we pay at the pump here. Let's face it: prices will not substantially decrease, beyond short-sighted election campaign machinations (yes, Hillary and John, I'm talking 'bout you). Getting in front of this is the only way a city of this size with its "commitments" to full employment and attracting additional employers will win.
Maybe if the leading city employees, the mayor and their families rode the bus to and from work, school and doctor's appointments for a week, it would light a fire under them.
Maybe someone should suggest that....
Lalita Amos's blog | login or register to post comments
Actually, I'm all for returning the (old) city to electric light rail transit. Sure the wires are ugly, but city dwellers could get around anywhere else on the grid without too much trouble. And there'd be a lot less traffic, too. Outside of the old city boundaries, a combination of existing arterials and existing rail RoW's could at least be combined to provide a framework transit system. There'd be a lot less of that "if we build it, they will come" nonsense either.
Combine this with a re-conceptualization of urban development, and Indianapolis could move from the bottom of the US mass transit heap up to the top 20.
But, Nooooooooooo. That would entail "change", and take away a person's "right" to drive anywhere they want, and blah-blah-blah......
We live in a city run by Luddites.
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Lalita L. Amos, CRC
http://www.totalteamsolutions.com
http://totalteam.blogspot.com
This was one bone of contention I had with the Peterson administration. Former Mayor Peterson was blinkered by the prospect of old school, capital-intensive fixed rail as the ONLY solution for Indy. Worse, he completely ignored the outbound potential for ridership and employment (because it favored Hamilton County, et al) and focused solely on moving Carmelites and Fishermen into downtown Indy.
There is a regional mass transit authority, and they have been slowly moving in a better direction, but they too are blinded by solutions that are not flexible enough for the metro Indy situation.
What we need are solutions that are flexible, less capital intensive, and more immediate. What we get are proposals that are generally the exact opposite. Unfortunately, I haven't even heard that Mayor Ballard has this on his plate.
Lalita, your suggestion has merit. The problem is that those you speak of probably don't have access to mass transit in the manner that you propose.
And, I will never be proposing Henry Ford as a great American. He screwed his employees, his competitors, his country to the best of his ability without getting sent to prison, and his legacy is still screwing us today.
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