response 50 of 143:

Apr 10 21:28 UTC 2002

I have a journal and I like to use a pen to write in it. I paste photos 
in and it becomes kind of a scrapbook. You cant really do that with a 
computer or a typewriter. Well, I suppose you could sort of do it with 
a computer but it is kind of fun writing with a pen sometimes. 

response 52 of 143:

Apr 11 01:50 UTC 2002

I switched from pen and paper to typewriter in the seventies and to computer
in 1985.  Some new technology is better than old technology, but I am
selective.  Cars are often not superior to other means of transport.

response 54 of 143:

Apr 11 02:05 UTC 2002

I think it would be fun, at least if there were paved car-free routes from
here to there.  We know someone who used to bike to the UP but he slept in
hotels and ate in restaurants along the way.  A train north would be
appropriate.  German and Austrian train stations have cheap rental bikes for
their passengers to use.  Dutch ones have large bike storage areas.

response 56 of 143:

Apr 11 03:10 UTC 2002

public transportation is a great alternative to cars and bikes where i live.
since so many people use it, it is easily accessible. i dont have a bike
because it would get stolen if i left it outside and i can't carry one up 3
flights of stairs everday. dutch is great for bikes because of the layout of
the city. it is very flat, and the people there are generally less agressive.
in NY only people in great physical shape could bike all the time due to
hills, geography, and aggressive car drivers.

response 58 of 143:

Apr 11 06:57 UTC 2002

  [since it looks like we've drifted away from the original item purpose..]

  My own recent trip via the public transportation system here was an
  enlightening experience.  I needed work done on my car and the mechanics
  recommended were a shop of fuel system specialists in Kirkland, just north
  of the suburb I live in (Bellevue.)  At about 10 AM I drove my car in,
  about a 20 minute trip after morning rush hour traffic had cleared.

  I definitely learned one thing -- if anything ever happens to my car I'd
  better be prepared to replace it in a hurry because there's no way I'd be
  able to hold a job and function in society if I were reliant on the bus
  system out here.  The mid-day trip from the mechanics to my home in Bellevue
  wasn't terrible -- about an hour of bus time plus twenty minutes at the
  transit center in downtown Bellevue, with an additional 3/4 mile walk on
  each end (to reach the bus lines nearest my origin and destination.)
  The return trip (back to the mechanics to pick up the car) was ridiculous,
  however.  I left the house at 3 PM thinking I was allowing plenty of time
  to get to the mechanics before their 6 PM closing time.  I actually arrived 
  at a quarter past 6, having spent more than two and a half hours on the bus
  on the return trip.  The high point of the trip was when the driver pulled
  over to the side of the street about a mile shy of my intended disembarking
  point.  He simply parked the bus on the side of the street, left the engine
  running with his five year old son sitting in the driver's seat, and ran
  into a 7-11 to buy snacks.  They must have been pretty special snacks, too,
  because he was gone for more than ten minutes..

  If I had to worry about getting to work on time or getting groceries home
  there's no way I'd rely on the transit system, which doesn't appear to go
  anywhere on time and doesn't seem to run very close to where I live or a
  lot of places where I want to go.  Making a single trip on this system was
  a huge eye-opener to the total failure of public transit where I live..

response 60 of 143:

Apr 11 12:55 UTC 2002

I both live and work in Ann Arbor and factored the feasibility of public
transportation into the decision to buy our home.  It's how I get to and
from work on a daily basis.  The bus on my route are almost always on
time, meaning within a five minute window.  It picks me up about 150 feet
from my front door and drops me at the front of the hospital.  The hours I
work nicely fit Route #2's schedule.  The U of M gives me a pass so using
the bus costs me not one cent.  From pick-up to drop-off is a 10 minute
trip. 

Public transportation can work, for some.  The trick is getting it to
work for more people.

response 62 of 143:

Apr 11 14:10 UTC 2002

Oh, if I'd known I was gonna start this up again, I'd've kept my mouth
shut....

response 64 of 143:

Apr 11 14:59 UTC 2002

Cars - not always convenient.  Try driving in the Chicago area at 11 mph
instead of taking the interurban train.  

response 66 of 143:

Apr 11 16:01 UTC 2002

right. The best way to encourage public transportation is to make 
driving a car more expensive and less convenient for most people. The 
best way to do that is to control urban sprawl. No one in SE Michigan 
has any interest in that. Basically, if you dont like urban sprawl you 
can move. There is no point fighting it because most folks dont give a 
rats ass. 

response 68 of 143:

Apr 11 17:23 UTC 2002

re #59.  I work at Washtenaw because I take classes at Washtenaw and working
there means I don't have to make yet another trip to work since I arrange the
work schedule around the class schedule.

Actually when I did work in Ann Arbor the problems were even worse than they
are now, including getting stranded many times because the bus was running
late enough that it turned around before getting to the end of the route. 
One time I was told to get off the #7 at Arborland because it was late and was
turning there instead of going on to St Joe and WCC (we lived at Glencoe Hills
then).  There would be another bus in 5-8 min that would get me the rest of the
way.  It was about 10 degrees out, windchill much below that and snowing. 
Forty minutes later a #7 outbound comes along (never saw the outbound #4 which
would have worked.  He lets me on, takes my transfer and tells me that before
he goes on to the end of the route he has to turn back to Briarwood (where I
came from in the first place after getting off the #6 from Research Park and
waiting 40 min for the 1st #7 outbound I took).  I left work at 5:00, it was
now after 7:00 and he wants me to get back on, go back to Briarwood where he is
supposed to turn around and come back to Arborland and (hopefully) go the rest
of the route (if he doesn't get a call to keep going back to Blake once he gets
to Briarwood).  I walked from Arborland to Glencoe, down Washtenaw, after dark,
in the traffic lane because snow had been plowed onto the shoulder.  Got home
about 7:45.  2.75 hours for a trip that would have taken me 8 minutes, 12
minutes with the snow, by car and I still ended up walking almost a mile.  It
took more than an hour in a hot bath for me to stop shivering.

I have been left standing at the stop while the bus just passes rather than
stopping.  When I called to complain about it I was told that if I wasn't
practically leaning on the sign and it was running late it wouldn't stop. 
It wasn't running late, when it passes me it was at least 1 minute before the
published time for it to be then (and my watch usually runs a few minutes
fast).  I was told that even in freezing rain I had to be by the bus stop sign
at least 10 minutes before the bus is expected when for over 2 years everyone
stands in the lobby of the building next to the stop until the bus turns into
the drive, the driver sees people walking to the stop and stops.  This turkey
didn't even look and I was close enough to touch the bus as it passed, yelled
and waved at him, he kept going.

I now take the bus only when absolutely needed.  I am tired of missing 
connections because the bus I am on is running late and the connector either
leaves early or won't wait.  It is bad enough that I have to leave an hour
before I normally would to get somewhere on time according to published route
times, but to make sure I get there I have to catch the bus that runs 1/2 hour
before then just in case they are running late so that I don't miss the
connection.

Thanks, but no thanks.

response 70 of 143:

Apr 11 18:04 UTC 2002

I live only about five miles from work but can't see a good alternative 
to driving.  Taking a bus would take way too long because my apartment 
and my office are on different routes.  I'd like to bicycle to work in 
the summer but I'm afraid the traffic on Ellsworth would run me down.  
I'm not really comfortable biking in traffic that's going more than 30 
mph, and traffic on Ellsworth generally does 50.

response 72 of 143:

Apr 11 19:29 UTC 2002

I used to write with a fountain pen, the refillable kind where you unscrewed
the cap and squeezed a plastic things.
Gull, do other people drive to where you work and if so, do they go near your
apartment?  Is there a bulletin board at work to post a request on?

response 74 of 143:

Apr 11 19:35 UTC 2002

ObSESSive...