Why streetcars are the best form of urban transit: Installment 56.
If the double-decker tourist buses are a little goofy, they seem to stay out of my way for the most part. Not so the city buses themselves, which have long made a practice of finding new ways to annoy me.
I like public transit, really, I do. While walking around town is entertaining, it's not always practical. I hate driving and really only enjoy my own car as a passenger when someone else is driving it. Sadly, our current state of public transportation leaves much to be desired.
My usual complaints run along the lines that buses are: smoky, inefficient, ugly, hard-to-control, and never on time.
This afternoon's experience led to a new low in my perpetual saga with the Baltimore Transit.
I was driving back from school (yes, I would ride the cars if it were practical--but it's not, given the route schedules and the crappy neighborhood where I'd have to change, so don't start with me) and was on my way up Fulton avenue. Now, Fulton avenue spends the majority of its considerable length as a nice (albeit decrepit) boulevard that runs arrow-straight north and south. For reasons lost to antiquity it veers wildly east for its last four blocks. This creates a nightmarish intersection at Pennsylvania avenue. It is particularly nightmarish when under construction which, of course, it currently is.
Now, if there were streetcars, they would happily trundle through the intersection on their tracks, unless the tracks were torn up and then they'd just have to suspend that line's service until the tracks were back in place.
Not buses. This is what buses do. First, they attempt to negotiate the curve around the construction. They then discover that this is impossible, without reversing and trying again. In this process, they come within four inches of sideswiping innocent vehicular bystanders. This was, of course, me. Having narrowly avoided minor disaster, they attempt the curve again. They will then miss in the other direction, and drop their left front wheels into the excavation, causing much panic amongst their own passengers and extreme frustration amongst surrounding motorists and pedestrians. Finally, they will burn their engines out in a vain attempt to extricate themselves, ensuring that they are stuck in the middle of a busy intersection for a very long time and causing all traffic to take a circuitous route through a grimy neighborhood.
Streetcars are just better.
If the double-decker tourist buses are a little goofy, they seem to stay out of my way for the most part. Not so the city buses themselves, which have long made a practice of finding new ways to annoy me.
I like public transit, really, I do. While walking around town is entertaining, it's not always practical. I hate driving and really only enjoy my own car as a passenger when someone else is driving it. Sadly, our current state of public transportation leaves much to be desired.
My usual complaints run along the lines that buses are: smoky, inefficient, ugly, hard-to-control, and never on time.
This afternoon's experience led to a new low in my perpetual saga with the Baltimore Transit.
I was driving back from school (yes, I would ride the cars if it were practical--but it's not, given the route schedules and the crappy neighborhood where I'd have to change, so don't start with me) and was on my way up Fulton avenue. Now, Fulton avenue spends the majority of its considerable length as a nice (albeit decrepit) boulevard that runs arrow-straight north and south. For reasons lost to antiquity it veers wildly east for its last four blocks. This creates a nightmarish intersection at Pennsylvania avenue. It is particularly nightmarish when under construction which, of course, it currently is.
Now, if there were streetcars, they would happily trundle through the intersection on their tracks, unless the tracks were torn up and then they'd just have to suspend that line's service until the tracks were back in place.
Not buses. This is what buses do. First, they attempt to negotiate the curve around the construction. They then discover that this is impossible, without reversing and trying again. In this process, they come within four inches of sideswiping innocent vehicular bystanders. This was, of course, me. Having narrowly avoided minor disaster, they attempt the curve again. They will then miss in the other direction, and drop their left front wheels into the excavation, causing much panic amongst their own passengers and extreme frustration amongst surrounding motorists and pedestrians. Finally, they will burn their engines out in a vain attempt to extricate themselves, ensuring that they are stuck in the middle of a busy intersection for a very long time and causing all traffic to take a circuitous route through a grimy neighborhood.
Streetcars are just better.
posted by Daniel | 6:17 PM
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