[ba-unrev-talk] Mess Transit
Greetings, (01)
Thanks for all the excellent posts. Very useful material, links and
commentary on collaboration and augmentation. (02)
This post is in response to the remarks on car pool lanes and mass transit,
in the context of ba-unrev-talk. (03)
First, I reject the notion that car pool lanes do not serve their
constituencies. In fact, they are extremely effective! (04)
First, anyone that thinks the car pool lanes serve the motoring public, is
sadly mistaken. (05)
Car pool lanes serve the "automobile-industrial complex," plain and simple. (06)
The automobile companies, their lobbyist, the insurance industry, the oil
companies, justice systems, construction firms, and the myriad other
organization that feed this avaricious monster are extremely well-served
with any strategy, like the dubious car pool lanes, that increases their
growth. (07)
Jack Nassar noted that for every $1 spent on a new auto, $7-10 are spent on
services - insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc. This is big, very big
business, so watch what you say! (08)
In the early 1920s, guess who systematically and deliberately dismantled the
Philadelphia trolley system? Yep, none other that 'General' Motors. (09)
To wit, " What's good for the country is good for General Motors, and vice
versa." - Charles Wilson (1890-1961), head of GM (010)
The automobile + insurance + big oil lobbies and their craven supplicants
have a pathological aversion to mass transit. (011)
In the pre-auto lobby 1860's the Union Railroad and Pacific Railroad spanned
a continent in 3 YEARS! (012)
Today, in the SF Bay Area, with florid auto lobbyists, it has taken "BART"
more than 30 to get to the airport! (Still not there yet, of course.) That
was only after major concessions to build MASSIVE car parking complexes, in
fact, the largest US public works project in the last 25 years. Go figure. (013)
Thus, anything that keeps you in the driver's seat is welcome. (014)
For example, in other countries they have implemented odd/even days to
ameliorate traffic congestion. Do you think for one second the
automobile-industrial complex would stand for idling half their cash cow? No
way brother! Hmmn, then how to assuage the do-gooders? Ah-ha! Car pool lanes
will do the trick. (015)
What does all this have to do with ba-unrev-talk? It is a classic problem
that we've all faced: (016)
Structural or technology changes do NOT solve cultural, political, economic
or social issues. Never have, never will. Look at all the failed/challenged
deployments of collaborative or augmentation processes and technologies, for
example. (017)
The typical Silicon Valley BWM aficionado would rather spend hours idling
alone on the 101 corridor, than dare join the great unwashed and step onto
terrestrial public transit systems. This is a profound cultural barrier to
sustainable transit. Add to this the intractable economic/political "Iron
Curtain" of automobile-industrial domination, and you have the current mess. (018)
Finally, now that my axe is sufficiently ground, there are many steps that
can be taken to move forward. One, relevant to ba-unrev-talk, is deliberate
action to advance progressive work models. The vast cubicle farms filled
with commuting automata, are a staple of perceived managerial achievement.
Adoption of new means of work and interaction have been slower than erosion
because of hierarchy and empire. Hopefully, ba-unrev-talk will help
accelerate the move from the mass centralization of work to a more effective
and sustainable distributed model. (019)
Cheers, (020)
-jtm (021)
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ba-unrev-talk@bootstrap.org
[mailto:owner-ba-unrev-talk@bootstrap.org]On Behalf Of Peter Jones
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2002 8:25 AM
To: ba-unrev-talk@bootstrap.org
Subject: [ba-unrev-talk] Re: [ba-ohs-talk] Eric Running for Office (022)
Yes, it has rail, but it's a long tunnel under a sea lane, so you can't
drive cars down there because everyone would asphyxiate.
And you can ventilate mid-channel without a risk to shipping (ships
don't float in aerated water).
So they put the cars on the _electric_ train.
Of course, you wouldn't need to do that if you had an electric car. (023)