A writer to the Salt Lake Tribune posits: " The sad truth of human nature is that until a situation becomes extremely painful we will not change our ways." The writer's point was that we should stop building roads so congestion becomes painful (like it is in New York or Chicago) and people will finally be forced to move to mass transit.
I can prove the writer's "truth" wrong with two counter-examples. I ride the bus to work about 50% of the time. Why? Not because driving is painful, but because I love the chance to be able to get in a little leisure reading each day. I love saving money on gas. I love not having to worry about icy roads. Driving to work isn't painful. In fact, time-wise UTA is far more painful--taking more than twice as long to get from here to there.
Second, recycling. I want to recycle. When I lived in Orem there was an extra monthly fee to be able to recycle, but I was happy for the chance. It would be easier (i.e. less "painful") not to recycle, but I feel better doing it. I try to find opportunities to recycle whenever I can conveniently do so. I suspect many people feel the same about mass transit. They now the environmental benefits and they want to help.
1 comment:
I agree, mass transit IS painful. The idea that everyone ought to ride the bus or the train ignores the day-to-day realities of most people's lives which might involve, say, taking kids to school, picking up or dropping off a weeks worth of dry-cleaning, a midday trip to the doctor's office, a swing by the grocery/liquor store, and a phone call from the school telling you to pick up your son who is puking.
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