Ladies and Gentlemen!
This blog is not above calling people names. I never thought that my English vocabulary is limited in this area. However, I stumbled trying to pick an appropriate epithet for
Clay Chastain. Mr. Chastain was on the radio again yesterday talking about his light rail plan, voters, city hall, democracy and whatever else he thinks he is an expert on. I personally don’t care if Kansas City builds a light rail system. Why not? It’s not like money is needed elsewhere to fix up horrible schools, fight crime, repair infrastructure, and stop confiscating 1% of my earnings.
I never stop being amazed at the gullibility of American public. Americans are too trusting for their own good and that creates a welcoming climate for all kinds of crooks, thieves and snake oil salesmen. Because I am all about tireless public service, I will educate 3 readers of this here blog about public transit system and why Mr. Chastain needs to be declared Persona non Grata in this city and all the people who voted for his plan should voluntarily abstain from voting for 3 years for abusing their constitutional rights. The reason is not that this city doesn’t need a working public transit system. It does. It’s just what was sold to this city didn’t have anything to do with public transit.
I grew up in the city with public transportation and I’ve seen (and used) many others so I hereby declare myself an expert just as Mr. Chastain did. As a matter of fact I am a better expert than him because I got my first car at age 22 and used public transit until then.
I would gladly use public transportation of any kind. The pro’s are indisputable: expensive gas, auto insurance, payments, maintenance, I could read books, blog on my way to work, I could use it day and night, when I am drunk ( if I did get drunk), etc. Con’s are practically non-existent. The only trouble is that public transit is a
network of routes covering the city or the whole metro area within a reasonable walking distance of houses, schools, offices, stores, entertainment etc. It doesn’t matter if the mode of transportation is subway, light rail,
flying cars, buses, trams,
trolleybuses or
rickshaws. What matters is the coverage, price, constant stream of vehicles where a person doesn’t have to wait for 45 minutes for the next ride, convenience and absence of scary homeless people.
Below is the map of Moscow subway. One of the largest subway systems in the world it transports millions of people a day every day. Each station is a hub for other kinds of transportation buses, minivans, trams, trolleybuses.
Similar systems in large American and European cities allow their inhabitants to conveniently survive without a car or at least with one car per household. There are plenty of examples of working, efficient, well-designed systems. Instead Mr. Chastain sold voters a stretch between two dots on the above map and convinced them that it will solve transportation problems.
Why take the most expensive, unworkable option and shove it down KC voters’ collective throat? Gullible people get what the deserve.
Related posts:
Behind the Iron Curtain:Public Transportation - Introduction
Local News:Mayor Expects High Demand For Light Rail
Multitasker: Public Defender/Undertaker
2 responses so far ↓
1 JustCara // Nov 30, 2007 at 11:12 am
You know you could take the names of any two of these stops and it would sound like the name of a gorgeous KGB spy in a James Bond movie:
Maryina Roshcha Tushinkskaya
Lubyanka Kievskaya
Fili Yasenevo
I’m telling you, I think this is what Ian Flemming really did…
2 Melinda // Dec 5, 2007 at 3:23 am
I loved the subway when I visited Moscow. It was the first time I had been on a subway, and there was art! And fast escalators that were really steep! And tons of people everywhere. It was overwhelming but it was so neat. The trams in Sarajevo are not fun - too crowded. I wish they had a subway like Moscow and Vienna - talk about public transportation! KC needs something. It stinks that nobody had the foresight that KC would become a big mass of urban sprawl.
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