GELFAND’S WORLD-Just arguing that we need to get people out of their cars isn't enough. We have to have a way to get you where you want to go, and it needs to be quick, comfortable, and inexpensive. In other words, we have to be able to offer an alternative to the automotive commute that will entice people out of their cars, not force them out. We are going to have rapid transit in the form of light rail and possibly other technologies, but we have to get you to the station without making you walk for miles.
Oh yeah, I have sort of a conflict of interest in writing this. You see, I have entered a contest about this question, and I'm asking for your vote. The project I propose is to figure out how to get you from your home to a rapid transit station quickly, comfortably, and inexpensively. I think it's an important question that needs to be answered. Our city is moving towards using trains and other kinds of mass transit, but we need to get this other end of the puzzle figured out. Allow me to repeat myself: Just saying that we need to get people out of their cars isn't enough. The question is how to offer people an alternative that they will actually want to use.
Here's a link to my submission and then, after that, an explanation of the whole contest. You can click on my link and read the proposal. To vote, you have to register either using your Facebook link or by putting in your email address, a username, and a password. By doing that, you get access to the site called Good.is
Fix our traffic: Getting people to rapid transit stations one neighborhood at a time
First, a brief overview of the LA2050 project and its grant competition.
The project called LA2050 is the brainchild of the Goldhirsh Foundation. The idea is basically an attempt to create a vision for Los Angeles and take some definitive steps to move towards that future vision.
The foundation created a contest that invited applications in 5 different categories, ranging from connecting up L.A. to creativity to health to learning.
You can get an overall idea of the categories by clicking on the LA2050 website. I think it's obvious from the contest title that the idea is to think a few decades into the future and out of that, to paint a picture of a better Los Angeles.
That's what led me to consider entering, because I have been doing a lot of thinking about how we will be getting around town a couple of decades from now. It is obvious that our new light rail systems will be a big boon, and there are other possibilities including an inventive solution called personal rapid transit.
But however these will be built, they are not the same as having your own private, personal transportation system in the form of an automobile. With a car, you can leave whenever you like, and point yourself towards your particular destination.
On the other hand, any kind of rapid transit probably beats sitting in endless gridlock on the 405. For the daily commuter, getting to work without having to hit the brake peddle constantly is something that most of us would think about in a positive light.
But if we are going to reduce freeway commutes by a couple of hundred thousand trips a day, we have to figure out how to get people to the train station or whatever other kind of personal rapid transit is nearest to their homes.
I've got a preliminary notion involving several available methods, each of which can contribute something. The idea is to put all of the potential solutions together in a design that fits the needs of your particular neighborhood. For example, there is the idea of an expanded version of cell phone accessible cabs, sort of like Uver on steroids. There are electrically assisted scooters, and there is the idea of local electric vans that move through your neighborhood and to the rail Line. A personal rapid transit system, designed correctly, could connect and link the rail lines.
There's even the idea of power assisted unicycles, apparently all the rage in some localized bits of Northern California.
{module [862]}
{module [662]}
As I mentioned above, my entry is called Fix our traffic: Getting people to rapid transit stations one neighborhood at a time. Just to motivate you, I headed the entry with a picture of freeway traffic, frozen in place. There is a pretty full description of how we would study the question, model solutions, and come up with a specific design for individual neighborhoods.
I should also like to point out that there are quite a few good ideas being presented in the LA2050 contest. Even if you don't like mine, there might be others that you may find meritorious. I also invite you to look through the various categories. You can actually vote in each of them.
By the way, my thanks to the Transit Coalition for graciously agreeing to cosponsor my entry.
(Bob Gelfand writes on culture and politics for City Watch. He can be reached at [email protected])
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 73
Pub: Sep 9, 2014
