Comments on: Reliance on Public Transportation

By: thewhatifgirl

thewhatifgirl — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:28:34 +0000

Whoa, a not-so-great bus system that stops running at 1:30 in the morning is bad? That sounds great to me! The buses here (Tulsa, OK – a little different than OKC in that we do have a lot of sidewalks and some walkable (pre-WWII) parts of town) stop running at 7 pm, only come every hour during the week and every hour-and-a-half on Saturdays, and don’t run at all on Sundays. We don’t have a light-rail system, either. You should really be more thankful for what you have.

By: PDXbikers

PDXbikers — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:33:46 +0000

3.5% bike commuting rate in Portland ain’t anywhere near a ton. http://bikecommutetips.blogspot.com/2007/06/us-census-10-best-worst-cities-for-bike.html

Portlanders still drive a whole heck of a lot…a lot more than even Seattle-lites.

Necessity is the mother of all commuting. Living in Seattle and now Portland…the traffic in Seattle sucks so it forces one to find alternatives to commuting. In PDX, you can still get “everywhere” in 12 minutes…which allows people (that I know) to drive 1.5 miles from SE PDX to their downtown job.

By: I Drive Alone « This So-Called Post-Post-Racial Life

I Drive Alone « This So-Called Post-Post-Racial Life — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:56:06 +0000

[...] new for me, as I currently reside in one of the most car-dependent city of all major cities. On this graphic, my city is in the upper left hand bunch of cities with 70% to 80% of folks whose daily [...]

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:31:08 +0000

…. bikes?

Anyway, I live in downtown Milwaukee and I have to say my car is a liability more than anything. I pay each month to park it, pay at meters, try to navigate streets that are always either under construction or snow. So I take the bus and use my car a couple of times a week to visit my SO who lives in a different part of town (15 minute drive).

But this is my individual experience. I imagine that life in the suburbs is very different, I wouldn’t know as I never really go there. I could see that people who live in the ‘burbs would have to take their cars to work. But where they park them is a mystery to me.

By: City Reliance on Public Transportation « Christopher A. Haase

City Reliance on Public Transportation « Christopher A. Haase — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:00:11 +0000

[...] (View original at http://thesocietypages.org/socimages) Posted by EHS Director EHS News Subscribe to RSS feed [...]

By: melete

melete — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:39:47 +0000

Well, now I’m thrilled that I don’t know how to drive yet will need to visit OKC for extensive research. D’oh.

By: b

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:03:41 +0000

This is something that’s been touched on in some of these comments, but I think that this graph is less illuminating than it could be because it doesn’t contain any data about why people are driving. There’s a difference between a city with little public transit infrastructure (a sparse and ailing bus system in OKC, for example) and a city with more robust transit options where people simply opt not to use them (which I perceive as the problem in LA). Both may give the same result, seen on this type of graph, but they’re totally different problems with different solutions.

By: A

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:46:45 +0000

I’ve posted on this site before under “a.” Maybe you’re using my nickname. ;P

By: MSC

MSC — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:54:23 +0000

Though there are many things about America that needs critiquing, I would just like to point out that there is not just one American lifestyle. When you say “Yank” you seem to be referring only to middle and upper class people, who are far from being the majority. There are also many people in this country who are environmentally conscientious. Please be aware that the “America” shown on TV and in movies, is not an accurate representation of what America really is. Though there are people who fit your description (and unfortunately they seem to be the ones in charge) your generalities prevent you from accurately seeing the real problems. While some people might drive cars because of some individualistic ideal, most people just don’t have access to public transportation, or if they do, it is poorly planned like the people commenting on here from OKC. I realize you aren’t a lowly “yank” but would you spend and hour on a bus to get somewhere you could drive to in fifteen minutes? Would you risk getting stranded somewhere because the buses are so unreliable (which occurs in the city I live in)? Before you decide to make such a negative generalization about the people of an entire country, please consider that the reality might go beyond a few stereotypes.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:51:12 +0000

Perhaps this is also a factor in the OP indicating surprise at how much public transportation use there is in L.A. (or that it’s not as bad as one might think).

By: Jodie

Jodie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:55:39 +0000

I live in OKC, too, and I have to agree with Jonathan. I am not at all surprised that our city is the worst.

I live FIVE MILES from where I work (a university medical center, and one of the city’s largest employers). It takes one and a half to two hours to get there on the bus — it’s no wonder people here don’t use public transit. I’d ride my bike but I’d be taking my life in my hands as there are no bike lanes (and people in cars are fond of screaming “Get a car!” at bicyclists on the roads).

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:43:08 +0000

As a resident of OKC as well, I concur with Jonathan. I actually attempted to ride my bike 1/2 a mile to one of my jobs for a time, but even that short distance was very dangerous and I eventually quit. I live in the NW part of the city, and there are no sidewalks here – not even in a lot of the residential areas. I drive 15 minutes to get to a large city park in order to run, when I walk my dog, I chance the both of us getting hit.

There is no good place to live in this city that will allow you to access things conveniently. There’s no real “shopping district” or “restaurant district” (save Bricktown, but that’s more formal events than something average people would casually go to), or “business district” or even pockets of supermarkets. You drive everywhere, all the time, and traffic is a mess.

By: Justa

Justa — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:26:30 +0000

Just another Portland resident chiming in–we’ve got an absolute ton of full-time bike commuters (myself included).

And the bus system ain’t the greatest–I might give it more thought if every line here didn’t stop running by about 1:30am.

By: John

John — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:35:29 +0000

i doubt that the data includes walkers and bikers, since these two modes of transportation aren’t included as “public transportation”. if bike-sharing and bike-renting schemes become popular, though, i wonder if they would start to be added into public transportation figures.

By: a belgium

a belgium — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:16:48 +0000

Something is skewed with this data.

I’ve lived in both Seattle and Portland, and Portland by far has more walkers, bicyclist, busers, trolley and light rail riders. Seattle just got light rail this year- Portland has had it for many. Seattle has NOWHERE near as many bicyclists as Portland does.

This data is off.