Lab #19
Transportation
Over the past couple of weeks while going on trips to different cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, and my home town Richmond I have had to use plenty of public trasportation. However in every city the same thing was turning up, all of the buses and subways were crowded, smelly, and uncomfortable. Although this way of transportation is positive, I think walking and utilizing sidewalks is something that would improve social capital, and help our countries overall health. It seems that the effect of the people on the buses and subways compared to the people walking along the sidewalks is completely different. Cramming people into tiny unsafe buses, only causes for more irritation and aggravation. Sidewalks are the way to go! Along with improving social capital, using more sidewalks reduces pollution in these big cities and practically could eliminate crowding of other vehicles. We all know that when people get places faster it makes them happier.
I agree with some of what is said here. I wish you would go into why walking would improve social capital. I see buses & other public transportation as having more social capital, because you have a lot of strangers forced to sit beside each other in order to get where they need to go, which involves being in this situation for at least five minutes, which is plenty of time to strike up a conversation, or at least be exposed to people who live differently than you. That was a really long sentence. Yes, walking would be beneficial to our country health-wise, but in building social capital I don't see a clear connection. When you walk somewhere, you are probably not going to talk to anyone you are passing, unless to ask directions. You probably aren't going to the same place as the stranger that just bumped into you. You probably don't pay any attention to the mob of people passing you, depending upon where you are walking, so you are not inclined to divert your attention from your destination to meet new people. Plus, there are only a handful of places in the US where you could get away with only walking and avoiding any motorized transportation. I admit that I plan to live in one of those places one day, though. Lila
ReplyDeleteI deffinately think that this idea of only using sidewalks is a great one; however buses and other means for transportation help stimulate the economy and without them, we wouldn't be as rich as we are. I really like the idea and i feel like it would help alot though!
ReplyDeleteNo doubt that if we do public transport poorly it doesn't build social capital, it just makes people mad. Thanks for going on public transport and for your insights about it! Bravo.
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