Reply #3: Having just moved from Portland to Minneapolis

[Lydia Leftcoast]

I have a new perspective on this issue. Portland has excellent mass transit, and a large number of car-free people. More people could be car-free if they just thought about it. If gasoline became too expensive for most people, many could switch to transit with little loss of mobility.

Minneapolis is an entirely different story. The transit system isn't a system at all, but an inconvenient, disorganized mess that has bucked national trends by losing riders in an era when most transit systems are gaining riders. After ten years of car-free living, I have had to start driving again, even though I can ride the bus about 50% of the time.

If gasoline guzzling is ever to stop, we need to build transportation systems that can at least partly replace the private automobile (mass transit and bicycle facilities) and the airplane (high-speed rail). Otherwise, people will continue to driving and will simply get bad-tempered when the oil runs out.