Moving away for college was my first time getting to rely on public transportation. I grew up in the country where no public transit except the school bus would come. Moving to quaint little walkable Davis was amazing! The opportunities to bike to class, walk to the market, jog from my front door around the neighborhood and back - they were wonderful. The weirdest part was coming 'home' and having to drive everywhere. I love the country, but I love a walkable neighborhood too.
From traveling to other cities and countries since Davis, I realized just how bad the US transit systems are. We have pretty unreliable and inefficient city transit here in San Francisco (unless you are off the BART line). We have no way to get north from SF to anywhere in the hot wine country area. The SMART train doesn't even connect all the way which is one of the most frustrating things for me trying to get to Santa Rosa without a car or bus. And if we want to get across state lines, we can take a plane, train or automobile but no quick and easy access to tourist destinations like the Grand Canyon or even Yosemite. In Europe, they have the EuroPass, plenty of trains, banned personal autos in town squares during high seasons, ferries, the works! Even in Thailand the train system is arguably better than the Bay Area's. The health impacts of this, from personal health of not sitting and stressing in the cars to pollution of air and rubber burn-offs from tire after tire rolling on pavement...the clearing of nature for wider and wider roads. If this all went into infrastructure for public transit, the benefits would easily outweigh the costs in the long run.
I am with you 100%. Going to college was my first time really not using a car. It felt great to walk around campus and get some exercise especially after sitting for hours studying in the library. I wish the US would update their public transportation. It seems every other country you go to, the transportation is significantly easier and more user friendly.
ReplyDeleteOur public transit system is actually an embarrassment in comparison to other countries! I hope with the new sales force transit center opening, the city realizes that there is a need and the potential to rebuild the transit system. More people are moving into the city and there needs to be an adequate transit system to support the influx of people in the area.
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