Seriously...What Could We Do?

On the heels of my riding my bike here and there lately...

There was a headline in the Dallas Morning News today that talked about how a commuter in DFW spends an average of 58 hours a year in traffic congestion. This placed us 5th in the nation.

The previous 4, in order, were Los Angeles, (with three tying for 2nd place) San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta.

Naturally, the article interviewed all the usual people. One guy was really excited that some area road construction projects were going to be finished soon. Another lady was talking about some trolleys and bus lines and maybe even a light-rail expansion. There was talk of making the current HOV lanes "toll roads" where you could pay a fee and use them even if you didn't have other people in the car.

It seems to me that those solutions wouldn't ultimately help all that much. Maybe save a few minutes here or there which might add up to about 2 or 3 of those hours shaved off...which would only bump us down to 7th on the list of "very large" cities.

And I looked at the cities known for having sufficient public transportation options and where they ranked. New York, Chicago & Boston all averaged 12 hours less per year sitting in traffic. It didn't help much in San Francisco or Washington, D.C. Mid-sized cities like Minneapolis-St. Paul or Portland averaged less time by like 20 hours a year.

So, the option of public transportation didn't necessarily relieve the commutes...and the studies were obviously on the major thoroughfares in each of those places. If our little suburb is any indication, that commute filters onto our major roads. 2499 from 5:30 to 6:30PM coming in, anyone? Or 2499/121 going south at 6:45 to 8:30AM, anyone? Gerault & 3040 in the afternoons, anyone? 407 coming towards town around 8:30AM or outbound after 5PM, anyone?

But we don't really have what I'd call a serious public transportation option where I live. Sure, depending on where you have to get to downtown you might could go to the DART park-n-ride and do that...or even from the airport, where there are more options.

And what about those that take the public transportation in those cities where it "works?" I'd imagine that they'd have time in what I'd call "gridlock." I mean, they stand in line for trains or buses, right? I'd imagine that at various "rush hours" in say, New York City when everybody's trying to get out of the city and get home there's some crowded cars and waits...although once after a Mets game at Shea they were able to move about 25,000 folks who took the train to the game out of there and we never stopped moving.

So, for today, here in the Diner, what little things can we do...I mean, really do that would help out these kinds of situations.