Good for you! Go "Souf Street"!!

I like saying incendiary stuff about cars...it's fun.

I actually enjoy driving myself, though I do it now much less than I used to. But no, I don't believe cars are "here to stay." They're a primitive means of moving large numbers of people around, and as stresses continue to grow on the physical and energy infrastructure I believe the pressure will grow to find alternate ways of getting around. Maybe we'll finally get Star Trek-style transporters perfected, who knows (though I for one wouldn't want to travel that way).

Our family personally continues to move closer to being carless, and I think it'll happen soon (though it's been a long time since we had more than 1 car). Sure, plenty of people still need them, but I stand by my opinion - they're a technology whose time has come and gone and they're not sustainable in the long run.

I hear ya. I cant wait to hop on the East Falls to Tallmadge, OH subway line. I'm sure that will be a profitable line for the railroad.

I have to disagree here. While I definitely think that policy and development have been destructively skewed towards the low-density, single-use, auto-dominated end of the scale for the last sixty or seventy years, cars (or personal transportation) are clearly a permanent feature. They provide a level of utility that public transportation can't match in the majority of cases.

Public transportation definitely has it's uses. If, for example, you want to move thousands of people from 69th St Terminal to Center City at rush hour, the MFL is the best possible form of transport. But if you want to go, say from Bensalem to Radnor, then the journey on transit becomes too long and complicated, and people will buy cars instead. No less a transit advocate than MarketStEl considered getting a car when a commute would have required it.

(But also note that transit can be made much more effective with increased service and better management. Also note that city governments have been driving jobs out of transit-accessible downtowns for at least a couple of generations.)

I'm with Niel. I think its becoming obvious that in the long term, a car-centric infrastructure is not sustainable. Europe and Japan have long given preferential treatment to public transport over private, and it's beginning to pay off big time in energy savings, efficiency, health, costs, etc., etc.

Yes, we'll always need a way to get from East Falls to Ohio or whatever. But it is a question of balance.

Most importantly, WHERE are the personal jetpacks? The Jetsons promised me one ages ago.

__________________
be aware that what the GOP says does not mean what it reads and what We perceive as to what THEY say is or isn't, is not what THEY mean. You dig....Great! (ms. e)

Yes, of course, which is what I was basically saying - shift the balance back toward public transportation. But it's worth noting that both Europe and Japan still have cars, and in Europe at least, car ownership and usage is increasing.

Same in Japan. China is growing at an insane rate too..

Right.

Yes, they have cars, but they are more likely to have one car per family, and to use them only for longer trips, not everyday. In Tokyo (and maybe other parts of Japan?), I know you can't own a car unless you can also prove you have someplace to park it.

I wouldn't particularly use China as a model -- their growth is pretty much a textbook example of how NOT to think about the long term consequences while growing an economy at a breakneck pace. Apparently most drivers in China don't have any idea how to drive and treat cars like bicycles -- resulting in outrageous amounts of accidents, not to mention the rapidly increasing pollution.

__________________
be aware that what the GOP says does not mean what it reads and what We perceive as to what THEY say is or isn't, is not what THEY mean. You dig....Great! (ms. e)

The unregulated manufacturing is the real killer in China. Sure, cars aren't helping, but global auto standards are getting tighter and tighter. I work on the political side of the auto industry...and China has been a huge focus these last 3 years. The projected growth is STAGGERING.

Again, we WILL have affordable cars that run on renewable fuel. Its here now...but clean production has to become affordable/feasible. (namely, the hydrogen production that is actually not green at all and the vehicles arent exactly efficient....yet)

When cars run on hydrogen, you will have nothing to bitch about. (other than street parking in FMT

That would be nice.

I also think public transportation has social benefits beyond just the energy efficiency aspect. It is better for people to all have to share. It's a great leveler.

__________________
be aware that what the GOP says does not mean what it reads and what We perceive as to what THEY say is or isn't, is not what THEY mean. You dig....Great! (ms. e)