Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Mass transit works best in densely populated areas

Time wasted
Mary Anne — (archived)

Wait until we can have ethernet on the bus and people can actually work and ride at the same time. Business people have learned to make time spent on the train useful over the years, and now that it's becoming possible to carry the office around with you, that time could be invaluable. Also, fewer accidents because fewer people are on the road getting frustrated and angry, so lower insurance premiums for the car one owns to use when one absolutely has to drive, or wants to get away, say, on a vacation. Or robbing a bank, whatever. ;)

Think about this: how many times does anyone at work have to be utterly mobile at all times? Mostly, one drives and parks, and then drives home. Same every day. Maybe the times change. So on Tuesday, one takes the 6:40 bus instead of the 6:00 or the 6:20. (Where I grew up, in a city, the buses ran on a 20-minute loop.) In the day-to-day workweek, it's not real mobility that we preserve, but the illusion of mobility.

And I never chose to live here, personally. We went, as so many other Americans do, where the work was, and we adapt. Mobility is often an illusion that way, too.

Regards--
Mary Anne

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