Today I read a Joel Makower blog called "Reinventing Mobility: It's Not Just the Cars, Stupid." Makower went on to discuss a lot of car-sharing options of the future, and even bike sharing options, and how the car companies could get in on this transportation wave to help reinvent themselves. However, I feel as though he glossed over public transit. Car-sharing and bike-sharing are elitist; let's be frank. There is still a stigma to stepping on public transit. Here in San Francisco, some people will take the subway or the BART, but they still refuse to get on buses. And let me tell you, the buses here are filled with a much more diverse clientele than the buses I have ridden in Albuquerque and Los Angeles.
And today, Inhabitat also announced a project between GM and Segway involving a sit-down type Segway. They mention they want cities and colleges to put in special PUMA lanes for this device. Luckily, Inhabitat does ask the question, why not just ride a bike?
So here's where I'm torn. Instead of coddling people out of their cars into comfy, rather elitist car-share systems, which might be the easiest transfer, why can't we work on changing attitudes not just about owning a car instead of belong to a service, but also about taking advantage of public transit options. I am a huge transit fan! I would absolutlely never drive if I didn't have to. Start believing that buses aren't scary. And if more people start riding buses, the service might improve and the hours extend, allowing even more people to ride them.
Trust me; it's really not so bad.
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