mass transit , if i ruled the world.

my life most [weekday] mornings:

wake up. shower. iron clothes.

walk 2 blocks to the busstop (above). WAIT. update facebook status. WAIT. say hello to the neighborhood regulars. WAIT. check work email. WAIT. watch cars drive by. WAIT.

get on bus. acknowledge crazy lady. read gmail. WAIT. get to work. boot up computer. WAIT. eat yogurt. work.

soup to nuts, door (house, not shower) to door, we're talking a ~15-30 minute transaction. i won't even bring up the evening trip home. all of this of course changes in the spring/summer, when the weather is warm enough for me to throw on a backpack, hop on my bike and ride the 2 miles downhill into the office.

for many people reading of my routine, this certainly rings familiar, if not similar, to the mass transit routine of many urban denizens. for many others though (of the local/suburban variety), much of this is substituted with a quick/long commute in your car. which brings me to the reason i'm writing today.

i stand at the busstop before and after work on many days, and watch the cars go by. and i see many, many cars going by with just ONE PERSON in them. this annoys me to no degree. granted, some of it is my longing to be in their car + hitch a ride the 2 miles back to my house (which takes only 2 mins by car), but it has more to do w/ my dissatisfaction w/ society in general.

i get it, i really do, that i live ridiculously close to work, so thus riding the bus is not as much a chore as it can be for many others (but i made the conscious choice to live ridiculously close to work so i could commute in easily). i also get it, that it is more convenient for everyone to bring their own car into the office, so they can come + go as they please. some might even say that the current mass transit system in [insert big town/small city name here] is less than desirable (the frequency, the socio-economic strata of a majority of participants, etc).

but that's not good enough.

at work, and in my personal life, i tend to frame up my thinking in a "if i ruled the world" method of problem solving. it does not solve much, but it makes me feel better, and sometimes, just sometimes, i become proactive enough to make change come about in some small fashion.

so here's what i'd do (if i ruled a small city, say Cincinnati), in the order of "lowest to highest hanging fruit":

1. create a commuter lane on the major interstates.
outside of major metro areas, this does not exist. my guess is that it is locally mandated policy, which is odd, given the interstate system is federally funded (and thus commuter lanes COULD be a federal initiative since federal dollars fund them). anyhow if you've got a 3 lane highway, 1, or maybe even 2 of the lanes become commuter only during peak hours (or maybe 1 of them stays a commuter lane during ALL hours). this would effectively [A] force "single drivers" into inconvenience, thus forcing them into the consideration of a ride-sharing option (see #3), and [B] cause commercial traffic (truck drivers, etc) to avoid the city centers, rather choosing to drive AROUND the major cities ...on the interstate beltlines that most cities have (the latter is more a pet peeve i have with trucks that are NOT Optimus Prime, which is another post altogether).

2. create better mass transit - period.
find a way to drop the money into building a "lite rail" system that runs alongside the major interstates, with stops at every major exit, and frequent shuttle buses that go to popular work + social destinations along the exit. the sad thing, is, this proposal comes up every few years on the ballots in Cincinnati (as a referendum), and fails. it fails for a couple of reasons: people are averse to paying more taxes for a program they don't feel they HAVE to use; and also because people don't want "less desirable" neighborhoods being connected to their upper-middle class suburbs. frankly, this is one place where "Lefty Raman" comes to life - take this choice out of the people's hands and MAKE IT HAPPEN. deal with the consequences.
SEE UPDATED POST ON THIS TOPIC

3. empower the citizenry to figure out a ride-sharing system
i have to believe there are multiple people in certain neighborhoods who all work in a similar area. in Cincinnati alone, there are HUNDREDS of my company's employees, many of whom i KNOW live in the same neighborhoods. this is where the secret sauce is for me. i'm going to find a way to setup this capability in the bubble that is my company (if you work for P&G + are interested, let's talk). i've actually seen some small social networks pop up around this concept. here's one:



here's some more info on PickUpPal if you're interested. but i really don't think people should have to pay for this service. they should be doing it because it's the RIGHT THING. but let's take this to the next level (beyond local). setup a freaking X-prize already (if only i were rich, i'd fund it myself. where's Google.org when you need it?).


that's all i have to say for now.

this has been way more highbrow than the usual posting of a goofy idea/video i come across. this is serious stuff. now let's see how the masses react.

masses? please react.