Niagra & Adelade
New Member
look at Kevin Libin's background and its no real surprise...
http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2006/spring/620/
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- Thread starter tkip
- Start date
look at Kevin Libin's background and its no real surprise...
http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2006/spring/620/
Second_in_pie
Senior Member
I myself hate cars. Sure, I know how to drive (I've decided it'll come in handy when the US invades and we have to start up the insurgency,) but I never plan to own a car of my own. Interestingly, I've found this nifty invention called a bicycle that's like a car, but keeps me fit, costs about $50 a year for upkeep, and allows me to conveniently dodge around traffic at will.
I dislike cars for a number of reasons.
First, they kill the environment, and do a good job of it. Cars are a result of most of the smog in the city as well.
Secondly, they aren't efficient at all. Compare having a good roads system to having a good public transit system, public transit will be able to move many, many more people than roads will. I've put this up before, but one day a while ago while sitting with my dad on the gardener in stop and go traffic, I calculated how much traffic a Go train saves. I calculated that each average full Go train that goes by is equal to over 3 kilometers of stop and go traffic on the QEW/Gardiner, and about 10 kilometers in fast moving traffic. That's basically from Yonge to the Ex of traffic.
Third, I think they just put people in the wrong mindset and are a bad lifestyle. When you're driving a car, you're in your own little world, totally separate from everything else. It very much puts you in a bubble mindset, and if you're in that culture enough, it could actually have quite profound effects on other decisions you make.
Cars also kill all those beautiful pedestrian-friendly areas. I'd actually be quite surprised if you like strip malls and the like better than pedestrian-friendly areas like Bloor West, Yonge, Queen or Kensington Market. But when you put cars in there, suddenly the pedestrian-friendliness disappears. If you build an area around cars, it'll end up having a huge amount of parking space, and you won't get people actually walking around and interacting. Instead, they'll go into a store, buy something, put it in their car, and drive back in to look for another one. Doesn't sound very pleasing to me at all.
Dugmor
Banned
Partner? Are you a cop?
GraphicMatt
Looking forward to a FRESH START for Toronto
I run a detective agency out of my house, yes.
(I never liked the 'partner' nomenclature but I've given in. It's ubiquitous now.)
SlickFranky
Active Member
LOL I knew it was Cox before I even clicked the link. Maybe if he just keeps spouting this garbage someone will eventually think he's right. 
I am still going to read it though...could use a good laugh.
I am still going to read it though...could use a good laugh.
kettal
Banned
Hi troll.
Being pro-transit does not mean you are anti-car. Being pro-bike does not mean you are anti-car. I call myself pro-choice, that means people should have a choice. But apparently, unless you think Car should be the only choice, you are anti-car.
That's exactly what I think about when I look out the GO train's window as we pass all the cars stuck in gridlock traffic. Convenience and freedom.
Dugmor
Banned
Why give in? Show some integrity.
TOareaFan
Superstar
I could ask why you would come onto a transit discussion and mock someone's choice of how they describe their partner/soul-mate/buddy/pal/chum/spouse/whatever....exactly what relevance does it have to the discussion?
GraphicMatt
Looking forward to a FRESH START for Toronto
No, he's right. I'm a failure at both standing my ground on semantic matters and solving neighbourhood mysteries.
hkric88
Active Member
I use to drive, and have since converted to complete transit dependancy. I feel MORE freedom, and MORE convenience. I'll tell you why with a few major points: I don't have to worry about finding a parking spot, I don't have to worry about leaving my car somewhere for any amount of time, I don't have to worry about driving when I'm fatigued, I don't have to worry about being a designated driver all the time (I always was).
Now, I can go out, do whatever, and never have to worry about any of those things, I just have a good time, enjoy my life. And if I'm tired at the end of the day, I get some of my best sleep on the subway.
Convenience and freedom, never felt so much of it until I got rid of my car.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
I'd much prefer the freedom and convenience of a forum without your useless posts.
Dan416
Senior Member
I own a car and love it. I also love public transit. If there was a subway to my doorstep though, I'd take it. But public transit in Mississauga sucks, and isn't getting any better. Frequencies of the 38, 10, 39 have not improved at all since I stopped taking the bus a couple years ago. Once you're on a bus in Mississauga, they move fast. But waiting to transfer....now that's killer. Especially in the winter. I have much more freedom with my car than I ever did with public transit, despite all the 416istas who can take the subway home after drinking (I'm sorry but whenever I go drinking, the subway isn't running after). I find GO transit to be a wonderful invention. I dislike those who trash it as being a commuter service catering to cars. I mean, it's true, but that's why I like it. It's relatively "convenient", as long as I catch my bus and don't have to wait for the next one which is usually a half hour later. It's pretty sad when GO buses have the same frequency as all my local bus routes.
hwy7
New Member
Good public transit makes things easier for cars. Imagine the QEW in a world without Lakeshore GO.
I, too, love both public transit and my car.
I, too, love both public transit and my car.
tkip
Active Member
Exactly what I was thinking while reading this article.
The writer's fantasy of eliminating public transit and just expecting the roads and highways, which are already overflowing, to suddenly and effortlessly handle the addition of millions of vechicles just doesn't make any sense.
I really don't understand what world he's living in if he thinks this the better scenerio. I know some people hate transit and if you have the means to get around without every hopping on a bus or train, then so be it.
But come on.
To eliminate transit because you rather see every single person in the population driving their own car flies in the face of reason. And let's not get started on the so-called ecological angle he's trying to make for why transit is bad for the enviroment and thus inferior to owning a car.
Pure garbage but sadly, some ignorant folks out there are going to eat this up and think to themselves why their taxes go towards a transit system they never wanted or use. Once again, this smacks entirely of the cult of individualism and people wanting to live in their own bubble world.
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PukeGreen
Active Member
After years of horrendous multi-hour commutes, daily traffic jams, road raging fellow drivers, car repairs, not-my-fault fender benders, oil changes, high insurance rates, high parking costs, oil changes, snow tire storage, shyster car salesmen, and other hassles, I finally found freedom. It found it when I moved to a dense downtown neighbourhood, started telecommuting, and sold my car. Now I walk almost everywhere I need to go, and my quality of life has improved dramatically. I save thousands of dollars per year by not having a car, which gives me more disposable income. When I do ride transit I bring a book and don't worry about delays. A personal choice, yes, but I personally think that the "freedom" and "convenience" a car brings is relative to your lifestyle, not an absolute.
Exactly. Despite my choices, I am not "anti-car". I rent cars a few times a year for out-of-town visits or chores and it's convenient. The problem is our over-reliance on cars, and our tendency to build an entire society around them. It's foolishly shortsighted: the environmental impacts are only one downside. We sprawl to accommodate our cars which lessons our quality of life in many ways. In my personal experience people are in denial about both the amount of time they spend in their cars, and how much of their income goes into owning and maintaining their cars. Imagine what we, collectively, could do with the human hours wasted every day in traffic jams alone?
Yup, and everything else aside, the author of this article seems oblivious to the impact that hundreds of thousands of commuters switching to cars would have on traffic and parking congestion. Remember when there was a construction accident on the Yonge subway line last month and the streets were packed with tens of thousands of people within minutes? Now imagine each of those people in a car. Now imagine this happening all over the GTA. Every single day. Ridiculous.
Car drivers should remember, as they cruise on our toll-free roads paid for entirely by taxes, that their ability to get around the GTA relatively easily is in large part because millions of other people are paying high fares to take transit, hence freeing up space on the roads. Most transit riders are not there because they are too poor to own a car: they are making a choice, and a sensible one. Transit supporters are not anti-car, they are simply demanding the same fair shake drivers get, which means: respect, and enough tax dollars to expand and maintain the transit system relative to our growing population.
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