The Consequences of our Transporation System/ Part I - Why Transportation Sucks in America

Have you ever wondered why you have to drive a car to get around, why public transportation is unreliable and no matter what, your intercity travel options are either by car, Greyhound or flying with airlines who will cancel your flight on a whim. The answer is surprisingly simple; our transportation system is designed for you to have to consume as much oil as possible. If any other alternative to driving is presented to the public, political entities that are against the alternatives along with the local newspapers will tell you that nobody wants it, not enough people will use and they'll tell you that it will make your life a living nightmare when driving. 

Now you're probably asking how did I come to the conclusion that our transportation system is designed to force you to consume as much oil as possible? Well it wasn't easy because there's no one out there pointing to the obvious. I came to this conclusion one cold morning riding the new Primo route 103. When I got off the bus at the Diabetes Institute, I noticed that there was no traffic. It's 8am in the morning, there should at least be 3 cars on Zarzamora passing by and more down the stroad coming. But not a single car in either direction as far as I could see. I did notice about 7 or so individuals (not including myself and my partner) on the bus that I got off of. It finally clicked as to why Randal O'Toole use to be for buses over trains and now declares that transit is dead. Apparently, those seven people who were riding the bus that day weren't driving a car burning gasoline. Whether they could afford a car in the first place is not the point here, it just so happens when you're not driving a car, you're not burning gasoline. Sure, seven people not buying gasoline isn't going to hurt ExxonMobil, Valero, or wherever you go buy your gasoline. But just like the dome on the bottom of the peanut butter jar which is there to reduce the amount of peanut butter that you're able to buy. You, not driving your car acts like that dome to the gasoline providers.

Also, please spare me your electric vehicle arguments. There isn't enough of them on the road and judging by the availability of lithium, there won't ever be enough of them to replace diesel or gasoline vehicles. 

The propaganda against transit mainly plays on Americans biggest hatred towards people who receives government assistance that don't deserve it. Yet if you dig into the past and learn when a railroad in the 1950s or 60s got rid of their passenger train, it was on the same day or right after the United States Post office ended their contract for the railroad to haul their Post Office Cars. Streetcar companies at the turn of the 20th century were the original Cayman Island shell company and non-profit philanthropist organization rolled into one. The airports that we fly into are owned by the local or state government and the gasoline tax doesn't even come close to cover the cost of all the pavement we drive on. All the transportation we depend on requires some form of welfare and always has. Nothing we use to get around on is able to cover the entire costs by itself especially roads. The result of this transportation system isn't you having to sit in your car stuck in traffic but societal ramifications that we ignore and unable to connect the Dots. For starters, our overweight society, the opioid epidemic, tons of people not physically fit to serve in the military 

Have you ever heard of TxDOT hashtag #EndTheStreakTX? According to TxDOT, there hasn't been a day without a death on Texas Roads since November 7, 2000.  What boggles traffic experts is why? Most will tell you that it's because of distracted driving, but what if I where to tell you that it's because people are scared because they're lost and don't know where they are. In the book "From Here to There The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way" by Michael Bond goes into what happens when someone is lost.  The fear and anxiety one experiences when lost leads to cognitive dysfunction. It's interesting to note that the year 2000 just happens to be the same year when an entire generation who where driven to and from school finally came of age to be able to get driver's license.
In Michael Bond's Book, chapter 2 explains the developmental skills that children acquire while roaming around on their own.  Not just spacial awareness, but the life skills that enable children to become functioning adults.  On page 31, he shows a map of a kid who walks to school compared to a kid that is driven to school. The child who walks to school drew a map with landmarks and streets. The kid who was driven by mommy and daddy just draws a line between two boxes.

"Free play makes us less likely to suffer from spatial anxiety and more proficient in wayfinding. Those of us with highly restricted home ranges as children make particularly anxious navigators as adults.19 This is especially relevant to girls. For various reasons, parents tend to restrict their daughters’ freedom of movement more than their sons’ (in Roger Hart’s study in New England, the boys in the town ranged twice as far as the girls).20 It has always been this way, and is usually done out of concern for their well-being. But as we’ll see in Chapter 6, it may be having a profound impact on the way girls experience the world when they grow up and on their overall spatial abilities, which affects their opportunities in later life."

It's my opinion the reason why we haven't had a day without a death on Texas roads since Nov 7, 2000 is because we stopped allowing kids to roam on their own and kept them coupe up inside. I'm also beginning to think that this lack of having kids not roaming around on their own is leading to bigger societal problems such as obesity and the opioid epidemic.  When you think about these problems and the requirement to have a car so you're able to function in society, it's starts to make sense on why we have a growing number of men dropping out of society for if you don't own a car, you're more likely to be unemployed.  

Image 2022-11-1

This world isn't without irony for one of the people trying to shine a light on these societal problems is Saager EnjetiOn May 31, 2022, he complained in a monologue, (Image 2022-11-1) that the solution isn't the humble bicycle for we are Americans. Yet on any given day, he and Krystal Ball will do a story on the lack of housing which Donald Shoup points out that our need for car storage is one of the causes that leading to the housing shortages. He has complained about the increase death rate caused by obesity and other factors. He also complained about MSNBC saying that "Fitness is Fascist", yet he completely leaves out the reasons why we don't have an active society which is the lack of safe infrastructure to exercise on, and other transportation options available so you can afford that gym membership instead of spending all of your money on your car at the pump. I completely agree with Enjeti that MSNBC's position is just nuts, but my question is "would this be because such a political issue if a third of us in the United States used a bicycle for transportation?" Other people have pointed out the positive physical outcomes to using a bicycle for everyday errands and I've listed some of those sources below. I've also experienced this first hand when I went to a doctor in my early 20s and she tried to prescribe medication for a low heart rate. My my question to Enjeti here "isn't your goal with Breaking Points to make society be a healthier place and not just physically but mentally as well?" As a member of the working class, I can tell you that not everyone can afford a gym membership especially if a good chunk of that paycheck is going to maintaining a car to get to and from work which brings me to my last point. 

Recently on Breaking Points, they had two segments about why men in ever increasing numbers are dropping out of society. One interview with Nicholas Eberstadt and another with Richard Reeves. After watching both segments and a monologue by Emily Jashinsky, I can't help but wonder was I ever one of these men? In late 2008, I've decided to drop out of society for I didn't own a car and wasn't able to find a job. I was only able to break this rut when a friend invited me to live with her close to downtown. By doing this, I was able to show potential employers that I just happen to live around reliable bus service and able to re-enter the workplace. But what if I wasn't able to become employed again, would I be one of those men that they're talked about? And how many other men are in similar situations because they don't own a car and are being denied work? It's interesting to note as I write this, there are help wanted signs all over the place with topics like 'quiet quitting,' 'remote work' and the Great Resignation being reported in the news rooms across the globe. It's interesting to note that according to Nicholas Eberstadt, the trend of men stepping out of society started to happen around 1965. The1960s just happens to be the decade when private transit companies started to go under and the cutting services across the nation began. Correlation or causality; from my personal experience, it's causality and people like Enjeti are unwilling to connect the dots.

And finally, some final thoughts for Enjeti in the tweet below (Image 2022-11-2)....
Image 2022-11-2
 
In all of this I haven't even mentioning the following facts....
And so much more. Just think, all of this to make you a dedicated customer to the Koch brothers and related industries. And in the future, a dedicated customer to people like Elon Musk.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Why Transportation sucks in America Series:
 
The Propaganda that Makes Transportation Sucks / Part II - Why Transportation sucks in America :  https://aatblog210.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-propaganda-that-makes.html

All Transportation Requires WELFARE, Always Has / Part III Why Transportation sucks in America :  https://aatblog210.blogspot.com/2022/12/all-transportation-requires-welfare.html

Images
Image 2022-11-1.  Brent Toderian tweet that Saager Enjeti complained about:  https://twitter.com/brenttoderian/status/1529963941987684353

Image 2022-11-2.  Jarrett Walker tweet on Brent Toderian on how people don't want to hear the truth, but dream for thing that they can't afford:  https://twitter.com/humantransit/status/1595089918824689665
 

Urban Air Pollutants Can Damage IQs before Baby's First Breath:  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/urban-air-pollutants-can-damage-iqs-before-babys-first-breath/ 

Michael Bond, "From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way":  https://www.amazon.com/Here-There-Science-Finding-Losing/dp/0674244575

Super Chief:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Chief

Saager Enjeti Twitter:  https://twitter.com/esaagar?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Why is there an indentation in the bottom of some food jars, like peanut butter instead of being flat?:  https://www.quora.com/Why-is-there-an-indentation-in-the-bottom-of-some-food-jars-like-peanut-butter-instead-of-being-flat

Do the Health Benefits of Cycling Outweigh the Risks?:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2920084/

How Car Ownership Helps the Working Poor Get Ahead:  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/07/how-car-ownership-helps-the-working-poor-get-ahead/431160/  

Men In CRISIS As They Drop Out Of Workforce | Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp5z0CdF_Rg

Americans are suffering from a preventable health crisis:  https://speakeasy.substack.com/p/americans-are-suffering-from-a-preventable

America's roads are getting deadlier:  https://www.axios.com/2021/11/03/motor-vehicle-deaths-united-states

Vox - The high cost of free parking:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akm7ik-H_7U

USAFacts - Transportation:  https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/transportation/

Gen Z CHEERS As Housing Prices Crash | Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78p_kY23LIA 

Joe Minicozzi at Memphis Boot Camp - How We Measure the City:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvKIaLjOJ8

Time For Left To ADMIT Boys, Men Are In CRISIS | Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ur1nDXRT6k&list=PLR1VVi2S5xz-gWs7KKIsXy3vKhNkrtH4G&index=13

Elon Musk Admits His Project Was A FRAUD:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LZGvsA9xus 

Railway post office:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_post_office#Decline_and_withdrawal

Drivers Cover Just 51 Percent of U.S. Road Spending:  https://usa.streetsblog.org/2013/01/23/drivers-cover-just-51-percent-of-u-s-road-spending/

Saagar Enjeti: MSNBC Says FITNESS Is Fascist:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVqH2VKtjZs

NPR - How Driver's License Suspensions Unfairly Target The Poor:  https://www.npr.org/2015/01/05/372691918/how-drivers-license-suspensions-unfairly-target-the-poor 

Transit’s Not Bleeding the Taxpayer Dry — Roads Are:  https://usa.streetsblog.org/2011/12/12/transit’s-not-sucking-the-taxpayer-dry-roads-are/

Windshield Bias Afflicts Broadcast Media’s Coverage of Cambridge Bike Lane Projects:  https://mass.streetsblog.org/2022/05/24/windshield-bias-afflicts-broadcast-medias-coverage-of-cambridge-bike-lane-projects/

Windshield bias among transportation professionals shifts safety burden onto pedestrians:  https://ssti.us/2020/06/01/windshield-bias-among-transportation-professionals-shifts-safety-burden-onto-pedestrians/

71% of young people are ineligible for the military — and most careers, too:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/14/military-service-most-young-people-dont-qualify-careers/3665840002/

Up to 75 Percent of US Youth Ineligible for Military Service:  https://www.thoughtco.com/us-youth-ineligible-for-military-service-3322428

Media Ignores Life Expectancy DROPS From Drugs, Suicide, Obesity | Breaking Points:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5uv1LkQ6I8

Saagar Enjeti: NYT Blames AMERICANS Driving For High Gas Prices:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzd2p1ibzr0&list=PLR1VVi2S5xz8Nrfa5Cq6StALm9HEWzhOR&index=9

Campbell River seniors say they’re ‘terrified’ to leave their home:  https://www.campbellrivermirror.com/news/campbell-river-seniors-say-theyre-terrified-to-leave-their-home/

Can Toddlers Cross the Street Alone? Yes, on Reality TV in Japan:  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/14/world/asia/japan-toddler-tv-show.html 

#EndTheStreakTX:  https://www.txdot.gov/safety/traffic-safety-campaigns/endthestreaktx.html

Thousands of flights delayed and canceled on busy July Fourth travel weekend:  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/record-july-4th-travel-weekend-thousands-flights-delayed-cancelled-rcna36497

Gryehound: https://www.greyhound.com/en  

Transit Is Dead. Let’s Prepare for the Next Mobility Revolution:  https://www.cato.org/commentary/transit-dead-lets-prepare-next-mobility-revolution#

Randal O'Toole:  https://twitter.com/antiplanner?lang=en

Why Your Public Transportation Sucks | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj | Netflix:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z1KLpf_7tU

Why is there an indentation in the bottom of some food jars, like peanut butter instead of being flat?:  https://www.quora.com/Why-is-there-an-indentation-in-the-bottom-of-some-food-jars-like-peanut-butter-instead-of-being-flat  

NPR - A Call to Redirect Mass Transit Spending:  https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5176280

Randal O'Toole:  https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2010/1/4/randal-otoole.html

Adam Conover tweet on cars:  https://twitter.com/adamconover/status/1587904876650139649

True unemployment' is a lot higher than you think:  https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-money/2022/05/31/true-unemployment-is-a-lot-higher-than-you-think-00035922  

Physical inactivity costs UK over £10bn per year, report suggests:  https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/physical-inactivity-costs-uk-over-10bn-per-year-report-suggests-177548

History of the NTD and Transit in the United States:  https://www.transit.dot.gov/ntd/history-ntd-and-transit-united-states

Emily Jashinsky - How Neoliberalism UPENDED Our Sexual Politics And Crushed Happiness | CounterPoints:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhtTA0dTZm4&list=PLR1VVi2S5xz_sKSQA7EqNbHbjglddpKJo&index=7

Vox - It’s easy to become obese in America. These 7 charts explain why:  https://www.vox.com/2016/8/31/12368246/obesity-america-2018-charts


Gravitas Plus - The Great Resignation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pOphIpddRAk

REVEALED Zoomers Launch Quiet Quitting REVOLUTION Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HwLLtlwR5UM

Wisecrack - Why Bosses Won't Let Offices Die: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zKr4pEgGiPE&feature=youtu.be

The Lithium Supply Crunch Doesn’t Have to Stall Electric Cars: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2022/the-lithium-supply-crunch-doesnt-have-to-stall-electric-cars 

Vox - Why so many people who need the government hate it: https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2018/8/17/17675100/suzanne-mettler-government-citizen-disconnect-welfare


Fuel types of new cars: electric 10.5%, hybrid 11.9%, petrol 47.5% market share full-year 2020: https://www.acea.auto/fuel-pc/fuel-types-of-new-cars-electric-10-5-hybrid-11-9-petrol-47-5-market-share-full-year-2020/

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