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Unread 22-05-2008, 19:23
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Public Transportation: in favor? disapprove?

You may get the idea this is a spin off of this thread, which it is.

I was sitting around today after working on my car today with my mechanic friend (head gasket surgery, the process is a pain). Perhaps the most noticeable complaint from him though was not about the repair work, but about the rising and not dropping price of gasoline with the current price of oil/barrel. Much of my thinking during a bit of a rest after all the car work revolved around this central fear: the economy is heading for some trouble all thanks to the cost of oil and gas.

In FIRST terms, fundraising efforts over the summer may prove very very hard, all thanks to gas prices. So, just remember as you are out there for your team, FIRST is great, but it runs off the domain of reality. Having been on 66 fundraising during the first wave of threatening gas prices (2004-07), I know a little about how it is to fundraise in a tough economy. That said, good luck in all good spirit.

Anywho, dinner time came tonight and before the evening prayer, I told my dad "I wonder if mass transit companies are going to be taking advantage of the rising demand for cheap transportation." Here in Ypsi, the AATA (AKA: "The Ride") comes around the neighborhood I live, but its maps are extremely hard to interpret (at least for me). So I have some studying to do if I am to take advantage. Atlanta, of course has its MARTA, which I loved when I was there for the Championship Event.

(personally, I'd love an economically friendly and efficient way via mass transit to get to Ann Arbor and back, particularly to where I work)

My dad responded with an indirect reference to something he did not realize he referenced, but I got the point nonetheless. It sort of frustrated me when he said that because it plays with what I love a lot: innovation in how we live (mostly inspired thought thanks to FIRST as a whole), and the main sponsor in the region I live (GM, whose engineers/mentors I have met I will have everlasting thanks and friendship for).

Despite the trouble there, I raise the question to regulars on CD: How should public transportation be implemented on a mass scale here in the United States? Should we have one like that ran in Taipei, which today conveniently had an article published on WIRED? Or MARTA? Or some other system? Should it be implemented at all on a greater scale, while we go back to deciding between hybrids and electrics ("Tiny Toons Summer Vacation" with the one character deciding between Goobers and Raisonettes comes to mind)?

I post this thread with hopefully an open-ended welcome to response and discussion like in the thread about electric cars.

-Joe

PS: This thread starter's format brought to you by inspiration from MetaFilter. A great site for practically anything reading.
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Joeseph P. Smith
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University of Michigan - Informatics (B. Sci. 2012)
General Purpose Programmer - Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research (CILER) at NOAA-GLERL
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