Alternative Transportation

Post from http://www.danieluk.net

What is the first thing you can think of when it comes to other means of transportation? In my opinion, they are buses, taxis, ride shares and trains, all of which serve people well and transport them wherever they want to go. Yet, is other means of transportation, also known as alternative transportation, really necessary?

The idea of using alternative transportation almost seemed vile to some of us. However, mass transportation and alternative transportation are things that people from all different sorts of socioeconomic backgrounds use. Perhaps the greatest example of alternative transportation can be seen in New York City where every day, millions of people crowd the subways, buses and taxis in order to run errands, get to work or go home and why? They do it because it is far more convenient than using a car. If you have ever tried to drive a car around Manhattan and actually tried to find parking…anywhere, then you know that it doesn’t take long to figure out that mass transit is far more practical.

 

Parking garages in some cities such as New York City charge premium prices for their use because space is limited. Similarly, because space is limited, people don’t want to be bothered with the hassle of owning a car, paying for a car payment and car insurance just so that they can leave their apartment, condo or home several hours early to travel the equivalent of a few miles. On the other hand, when the gas crisis hit, other people in other areas of the country were forced to figure out their own transportation systems. For example, I tried to take the bus several times when I was living in North Carolina. Actually, I was forced to take the bus because, at the time, I didn’t have a car. Luckily, I was in college, and the area that I lived in had just passed a law that allowed students to take the public bus for free. There was a catch though. I found that whenever I took the bus, it was hit or miss. I couldn’t really depend on the bus to get me where I needed to go on time. I had to figure out bus schedules and then whatever the bus schedule said, I had to then allot a certain amount of time to get ready in the morning and then walk to the bus stop (which was a mile away from where I lived at the time) and then wait for the bus. On top of that, my stop wasn’t the only stop along the way. We had to make several other stops to pick up other people. Before all was said and done, it took me the equivalent of three times the amount of time to take public transportation versus the short amount of time it would have taken for me to hop in my car and take the most direct route to where I was going.

 

Alternative Transportation http://www.danieluk.net/news/alternative-transportation/