http://www.ibabuzz.com/transportation/2007/04/30/spare-the-hair-day/ Getting around the Bay Area with Denis Cuff and the Queen of the Road Tue, 17 May 2011 06:04:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://www.ibabuzz.com/transportation/2007/04/30/spare-the-hair-day/comment-page-1/#comment-1837 Capricious Commuter Wed, 02 May 2007 02:55:00 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/transportation/2007/04/30/spare-the-hair-day/#comment-1837 Sorry, David. As much as people want to believe that good transit will get people out of their cars, I’m aware of plenty of research that says otherwise. Yes, a good system will attract more riders. But it’s been shown in nations with great transit systems that when people can drive, they will. In the developing world, especially, transit is exensive because that’s the only way many people have of getting around. But once those people’s incomes rise and they can afford cars, they buy them and drive them. Here in the USA, we’ve got the money and we’ve got the roads. Adding cheap, reliable transit to that mix will give people a safety valve (as it has done in the Bay Area these last two days), but it will not make the majority of American commuters decide to go car-less if driving is a viable option.

]]> http://www.ibabuzz.com/transportation/2007/04/30/spare-the-hair-day/comment-page-1/#comment-1836 david vartanoff Tue, 01 May 2007 05:56:47 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/transportation/2007/04/30/spare-the-hair-day/#comment-1836 No, Erik, New Yorkers use transit because it works well–like the subway runs 24/7 comes frequently, goes many places and is cheap. $76 rents you the entire city bus/subway system for the month–could you even PARK a car for that in a downtown lot?

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