Public transportation: where has it gone? This is going to be [View All]

[harrison]

a rather disjointed post, but I want to get this off my chest, which means nothing in the scheme of things, other than getting it off my chest.

Let me start by saying that I live in rural Mississippi. (no jokes please). When I was very small, there used to be train travel in our benighted state. In fact, there was train travel everywhere in the 1950's, although by the late 50's, it was really dying out.

A person could go down to the depot, buy a ticket, make a couple of changes and end up in downtown Memphis, where they could then shop at some pretty decent department stores near the muddy Mississippi. Then, they could gather their belongs at the end of the day and take the trains back home.

Granted, in some ways it easier, but the loss of trains and the advent of automobiles changed everything in this country. Downtowns deteriorated, strip malls arose, ugly architecture popped up with billboards and signs. Of course, we had the rise of suburbia. Then came the four lanes, and huge trucks which began transporting more and more. Then, traffic jams because more and more people had to have a car.

Of course, much of this started under the Eisenhower administration who started the interstate system. Apparently, Eisenhower got the idea from the German autobahn which he saw after the war. It is my understanding that the autobahn was built so that Hitler could move massive amounts of materiel and troops in a rapid amount of time.

So, during the 50's, the car makers, the oil companies, and the road contractors figured out that there was a gold mine by building up the car culture in our country. And they were right.

Except, the internal combustion engine has created havoc with the environment, and really what has the car culture done to quality of life?

I have made two trips to Europe and in both cases had the privilege of riding the rails. And it is just fantastic. One can sit back, enjoy the countryside, enjoy a drink, go to sleep, engage in conversation and do it rather cheaply.

Furthermore, the tube in London is just a great way to travel. And the Metro in Paris wasn't bad either. I have done subways in New York and Boston and for a poor ole country boy from Mississippi, I found American subways rather daunting. Something about the crime rate, although the last time I rode the subway in New York, things were much better. I think the Marta in Atlanta is a pretty good thing.

Now, even the poorest person has to spend a good deal of money to have a car just to get to work. There is really no public transportion for them in rural areas.

My point is that we have missed the boat. We should have been developing an oustanding public transportation system in this country. We SHOULD have high speed trains that will get us from point a to point b much faster than taking an automobile.

Imagine what we could have had if the money which has been spent on roads could have been invested in high speed trains.

Anyway, I am sure that there are holes in my argument which DUer's will glady point out.

However, based on my experience in Europe, it sure seems as if we have missed the boat.

And one final note: the population is exploding across the world. What are we going to do? Sell a car to everyone in China. It just seems to me that we can't keep going as we are going. I don't know that the environment can take it.