Rrrrrraaaaadies and genteruman...

Well howdy frickin doody all you blogging mollys and misters,

I'm not really sure if it is my turn or not to blog here yet, but as per previous instructions I'll henceforth and heretofor follow in Glenn's bearded footsteps... not of course that the footsteps themselves wear beards, nor the feet (although I know my toes are hairy)... uh... what I'm trying to say is that I dig the beard man. I've actually lost mine recently in a terrible boating accident that involved no boats. I think it must have found its way over to you (the beard, not the boat). But as this weeks topic is public transportation and not facial vibrissation, I'll stick to the cold hard facts of the Japanese underground, overground, and interground. Bottom line; trains planes and automobiles, or was it the other way around?

But first, perhaps a word to describe this hooligan with the audacity to place before you all these odd shapes conventionally known as letters, arranged in small blocks of meaning colloquially referred to as words, and further combined in elaborate strings of print to form complete thoughts (if thought to be complete), a bit of explanation about this beast who babbles like an uphill stream and somehow says less, this (dare I say) man in the midst of things, about town and torn about, lost enough to have forgotten where he's going and found enough to always get there... (too much? not enough?)

Martin's the name. General tomfoolery, fooltuckery, and footluckery (dare I forget toolfuckery)'s the game. (we're not PG13 are we?) Born and raised in Florida and Wyoming, (that's right... I'm leavened) I am currently in the process of growing up backwards in a country of infinite awe and finite space: Japan. Although I am currently teaching English in the Japanese school system and working daily towards fluency in reading writing and rhythm-ticking, my true call to arms (as well as various other extremities) lies in the art of poetical undertakings. As such, I intend to grasp the language of this wonderful little country (as well as its history of wordsmithery) firmly between the teeth before moving on to some kind of gradumatorium (perhaps even Houston so that I may further follow in the footsteps of my beloved Glenn).

So if my words seem wrought of too dense a metal, if my long winded poppycocking rubs you wrongly, I do apologize, for it is only the poetry that pumps through these throaty veins. Really, I do. Adieu.

Otherwise, thank you for reading. I sometimes wear even myself out. But I do feel honored to be a part of the blog supergroup, to once again be sharing space with a community of writers (of whom I know only Glenn and Jen and damn it appears as though te addition of myself to this trio throws off the rhyme scheme. Sorry about that. But long winded introductions aside, as they say in Japan,

Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu (Please treat me well in our new friendship)

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And now to get down to the meat of the matter, the hatter and his puppets, the muppets and their trains, the main veins of the city that allow for the hustle and bustle, the perverbial muscle of our nominally ecological economy (a full frontal labotomy or a full bottle in fronta me, I'll take the bottle. Its more fundamentally fun to me.)

Ok, time to take it back down a bit. Sorry about all the rhymes and whatnot, I'll try to be more... serious for the rest of it. Beautiful subway stations (Russia) and rat infested piss holes (NYC) aside, I would be willing to wager that Japan has the best public transportation system in the world. But then again, the realities of existence here require it. When you have half the population of the US crammed into an island (archipelago really but whos counting?) the size of California, youd be in a frat house spanking competition with no paddle if everyone drove a car to work. Because of that, while America has screamed BIG BIG BIG, Japan has whispered tiny into the ears of teir vehicle manufacturers, and the result has been the perverbial yin to Americas huge yang.

And cars aside, te train systems here reach not only to every major city, but to most of the smaller ones as well. About a year ago, I purchased a free rail pass, packed up a bag with a tent and a change of clothes and followed Matsuo Basho's Narrow Road to the Deep North, travelling as far as the northernmost tip of Honshu... all of it by local train (with a few busses, fairies, and the occasional hitch-hike thrown in for good measure.) But for the most part, the boats and cars were only necessary to get to the really funky out of the way areas, while it is truly possible to tavel Japan tip to tail entirely by local trains. And where you can't go by train you can go by bus. And all of it is so clean you could eat off the floor (if you don't mind all the dunken salarymen staring at you and reeking of sweat and booze.) The trains in Japan from about 7PM on always have the same stringent vapors of booze mixed with the scent of dissapointment at a life wasted in a company in pursuit of material goods permeating evey available bit of space. But they'll still get you home relatively inexpensively.

When I lived in Tokyo, trains were my everyday. Now, living in Kyoto (Earth's most beautiful city), I ride my bike to work every day, unless its pissing down rain, in which case I sometimes take the bus. But its not just me. I am not the exception here. EVERYONE rides their bike. There are streets here that could be anywhere downtown USA except for the rows and rows of bicycles. I'm not making any kind of judgement call here (except that more people in AMerica should ride thier bike (even though I do recogize the difference in space).

Well, I've written too much as it is, and although there is always more to say, I will have to bid you all adieu. Good night. Which I suppose is Morning to alla yous.

I Missed The Bus

That's a reference to a Kris Kross song, the greatest rap group of all time. Anyway, I've mentioned how much I hate Orlando public transportation a few times in my comments throughout the week, but I don't have much else to say. So I'll rehash some bus stories.

When I first moved to Orlando, I was attending Valencia Community College. This was my sophomore year of college, because I got kicked out of FSU for terrible grades and fighting. Not really, though, but it's a long and boring story. Mainly I wanted to go to film school at VCC. Anyway, my roommates and I lived about three miles from VCC, and it was a straight shot on the bus. A very easy route, and quick. So that was extremely convenient. However, when I graduated and started going to the University of Central Florida, it was not so convenient. With transfers, taking the bus turned a twenty minute car ride into a three hour bus ride. So that pretty much blew. But I didn't have a car, so I basically had no choice in the matter. Plus I got to listen to tapes (this was back in the day), and I perfected my "angry Arab face." This was the kind of mad looking face I put on to stop people from trying to sit with me. I used to use it all the time on buses and at airports. Not really anymore, because I guess the angry Arab face gets you thrown in Gitmo for life.

How is this relevant? I guess what I want to say is public transportation (in Orlando and Houston, at least) sucks, and I don't really think anybody can be expected to take it. In Orlando, the buses stopped running at 10 pm. In Houston, the buses and trains run until 12am, but for a city of 5 million, that seems pretty ridiculous. If I was poor (which I guess I am, but I have a car), then how could I possibly rely on public transportation to take me to a job if it had odd hours? Or if I had to leave three hours early?

So public transportation in most of America sucks, and I don't think it's really going to get better any time soon. Also, I don't think America can really follow Europe's example of trainsportation (I just made up that word), because American cities are much more spread out. So that's nixed too.

The answer? Jetpacks.

I Heart The Earth

I think today's my day to write...or maybe that was yesterday.

Jen brought up a good point yesterday about people not owning up to our impact on climate change. Sadly, most of these people are fundamental Christians. I'm not sure if it's an active denial, (after all, I'm sure these are signs of the end times, and why not help them along?), or whether they are just that ignorant. A lot of them believe God gave us the earth to do what we will, and take care of it. This is taking care of it? And even if hypothetically there was no global warming, why is it such an insane idea to actually take care of our home, just in case we do contribute to something worse. The whole thing reminds me of a scene from I Heart Huckabees. I've referenced it before, but I'm actually going to give you the transcript this time.

Setup: Albert and Tommy are at Steven's house, investigating several coincidences between Albert and Steven. Steven was adopted by an American family, and brought over from Sudan.

Mother: What do you do?

Albert: I'm the director of the Open Spaces Coalition. We fight suburban sprawl.

Daughter: What's suburban sprawl?

Father: Ask Steven. He could have used a little suburban sprawl in Sudan.

Daughter: Excuse me, dad?

Father: Industry, houses, jobs, restaurants, medicine...

Albert: You can preserve a lot of open spaces and have jobs for people with...

Father: I beg your pardon, Albert. I wasn't finished.

Albert: Sorry, sir.

Father: Clothes, videos, toys, cheeseburgers, cars,a functioning economy.

Albert: You can still have a functioning economy and preserve open spaces With a little planning.

Father: Yeah. - Socialism. Complete disaster.

Albert: Theodore Roosevelt was a socialist? And Yeats? -

Father: Theodore Roosevelt...

Albert: Henry David Thoreau, Robinson Jeffers, the National Geographic Society, all socialists?

Father: You're talking about socialism.

Albert: Oh, I'm not. I'm talking about not covering every square inch with houses and strip malls, until you can't remember what happens when you stand in a meadow at dusk.

Son: What happens in the meadow at dusk?

Albert: Everything.

Parents: Nothing!

Albert: Everything! It's beautiful, it's beautiful.

Father: I Work for an electrical engineering firm, son. We do a lot of commercial and residential contracts. If development stops, so does my paycheck. Then Steven couldn't be here as our guest, could he? So your ideas hurt Steven.

Albert: I'm not hurting Steven. That's an outrageous accusation.

Father: Don't use that tone of voice in my house.

Albert: I think you started that tone. And I think it's entirely possible for your engineering firm to have jobs for people, preserve open spaces, have contracts, do the...

Father: Do you have a job, Tom?

Tommy: I'm a firefighter.

Mother: Oh, God bless you. A hero.

Tommy: I'm not a hero. We'd all be heroes if we quit using petroleum though.

Mother: Excuse me?

Tommy: You say you're Christians living by Jesus' principles. Are you?

Daughter: Jesus is never mad at us if we live with him in our hearts.

Tommy: I hate to break it to you, but he is. He most definitely is.

Mother: All right. That's enough. Steven, I don't know what this is about. Why they're here...

Steven: Sorry, Mom. Sorry, dad. I did not know.

Father: Stevo, I'm so disappointed.

Mother: It's all right. Look, he's sad. He's sad.

Father: I'm sorry, Stevo. My bad. You didn't know.

Tommy: You should be ashamed of yourself.

Father: I should be what?

Tommy: You should be ashamed of yourself.

Father: Why should I be ashamed?

Tommy: You're a hypocrite.

Father: I'm a what?

Tommy: You're misleading these children. 'Cause you're the destroyer, man.

Father: How am I the destroyer?

Tommy: I saw that S.U. V. Out there.

Father: My car's the destroyer? You wanna know how many miles per gallon I get?

Albert: Steven, I need to ask a question. It's why I came here. Why are autographs so important to you?

Steven: It is a pastime with this family which they have taught me, which I can now carry on.

Mother:It's just for fun [Game Beeping] - for entertainment. No games at the table, please.

Son: Yes! 260! And I've reached the omega level!

Tommy: Destroyer. Destroyer. Destroyer.

Father: God gave us oil.! He gave it to us.! How can God's gift be bad?

Tommy: He gave you a brain too and you messed that up pretty good...

Father: I want you sons of bitches out of my house now.

Tommy: If Hitler were alive, he'd tell you not to think about oil.

Father: You're the Hitler! We took a Sudanese refugee into our home!

Tommy: You did. But how did Sudan happen, ma'am? Could it possibly be related to dictatorships that we support for some stupid reason?

Mother: You shut up! You get out. -

Tommy: You shut up. Come on. Let's get out of here.

Albert: Later, Steve.

So much for a short post.

As spread out as the US is, I don't think we'll be able to adopt any type of train system. I would love to have a hybrid car, but I can't afford a new car right now - and there is no public transportation in Lake City. So until I save some money to get a new car, regrettably I will still be contributing to the downfall of our environment - at least I can carry the guilt that goes along with it.

Moscow, Daegu and San Diego: Three cities and their public transit networks

Part 1: Moscow

I have made three rather lengthy trips to Russia, and while I certainly did not spend the bulk of any of those trips in Moscow, I still spent a lot of time there. Moscow has an incredibly impressive subway system. It is efficient and it reaches into most corners of the city. The most impressive thing about the Moscow subway system, however, is the stations. They are not simply stops on a public transit line, they are works of art. Below are photographs (not taken by me – you’re not supposed to take pictures in the stations, and I try to avoid rule-breaking in Russia) of some of the most beautiful stations, just to give you a glimpse of what I mean. They truly are “palaces of the people.”

Metro Station Komsomolskaya


Metro Station Kievskaya

In addition to the ever amazing subway system that is the Moscow Metro, Moscow also has an efficient bus and trolley bus system, plus slightly more expensive mini-buses called marshrutki. It’s pretty easy to get around the city without a car, and certainly the masses avail themselves of this opportunity. Just check out this video of the Moscow Metro at rush hour!

However, in cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg where the “New Russians” are growing richer by the day, the idea that the “better” people own cars is certainly becoming prevalent. Moscow and St. Petersburg roads are frequently jammed with cars – and, of course, the winter weather often exacerbates this situation.

Despite the ever increasing popularity of the automobile, public transportation is still the way the masses travel… HOWEVER: anyone who has ever visited Russia can attest to the fact that pollution is still a serious problem in that country. Certainly the growing number of cars is contributing to an increase in pollution emissions, but in Russia there are certainly far worse polluters in just about every industry.

Part 2: Daegu

I currently live in Daegu, South Korea. Daegu has excellent public transportation. I live close enough to my workplace that I can walk; however, if I wish to go anywhere else in the city, I can easily do so by taking either the subway or a bus (or both). Many, many people avail themselves of the public transportation opportunities in Daegu (and other South Korean cities) on a daily basis, and the subway and busses are frequently packed. That being said, cars are becoming increasingly popular here as well. Perhaps it’s a sign of status? I don’t know. I do know that this is the only country where I’ve been caught in a nine hour traffic jam!

Of course, even if every person in South Korea were to drive an SUV, it wouldn’t have nearly the impact that the US has on pollution emissions, simply due to South Korea’s size – this country is, after all, smaller than Florida.

The Daegu subway stations aren't particularly interesting...
but the cars are incredibly clean!

Part 3: San Diego

I lived in San Diego, CA for a little over two years. The city of San Diego is quite large, and San Diego County is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. The freeways are constantly jammed, and I spent a huge portion of my time sitting in traffic. San Diego does have a trolley and bus system, but they are not very efficient. In good traffic, it would take me approximately 15 minutes to drive from my house to the Mexican border. This same trip would take one hour by trolley, not including the fifteen minutes it took me to walk to the nearest trolley stop. I only ever used the trolley when I went to Mexico, simply because I did not feel that the border was a safe area to park my car. All other times, I drove. Who wants to take triple or quadruple the time to get somewhere?

The San Diego Trolley only had two lines. The bus routes weren’t very convenient. While the local government spoke of plans to add more lines and routes in the future, they weren’t sure if that would be cost effective. Because so few people rode the trolley and buses regularly, the city had to increase fees. The increased fees led to fewer people riding said transport, leading to a decrease in transit authority revenue, leading to another fee hike... and meanwhile, traffic gets worse and worse by the day. That being said, there's a lot less pollution in San Diego than in either Daegu or Moscow!

Waiting for the San Diego Trolley with my mom, 2003
(We were going to Tijuana, Mexico.)

let's go back to horses

there was a time when my hubby and i decided that we didn't need a car, especially since the ones we got kept breaking and we couldn't afford a good one. so we invested in some bicycles and bus schedules. the result was that we both got in better shape and got to know some of our neighbors by seeing them on the bus all the time. it also taught us to be better organized - i learned the hard way that i should keep dry clothes at work, since once i had soaked pants and a blow-dryer, and the store was going to open in an hour...
i'm not sure what effect that anecdote will have on anyone, especially since i haven't introduced myself yet, so i bet some people are wondering how the heck this weirdo got on the blog...
so, hi. i'm linda. i'm an animal freak. i don't know anyone who blogs here except jane (where did you get that photo?). so this should be fun.
i have a car now that i live in southern cal (from my old apartment to work on the bus took 2.5 hours, and i just can't do that every day). we try to carpool as much as possible, and moved so that we're within biking distance from work. i think we save money that way. then again, the gas and maintenance and everything cost about a billion dollars. personally, i think that cars are great inventions, but that people overuse them.
i doubt that any act of our government would make much change in the habits of over-drivers. remember, prohibition didn't work all that well...
it would be cool if more people cared about the environment, but we're a pretty self-centered species for the most part. no self-exclusion there. i have used the car to get from work to starbucks (across the street) and i would have done that, whatever the rules, because dammit i wanted coffee.

Blog changes and public transportation

I have the honor this week of announcing a few changes in BlogSupergroup! After a long series of emails among each other, we’re going to be adding some new regular bloggers and creating space for some guest bloggers as well. Our guest bloggers will include a few names you’ll recognize as regular contributors in our blog and comments sections as well as some new faces. I’ll let these people introduce themselves with their first post.

I will, though, introduce a new regular blogger, Martin, who went to school with Glenn and me and currently lives in Kyoto, Japan. Martin has a lot of interesting stuff to say, and certainly adds a different point of view to the blog. Now that I’ve vouched for him, he has to come through or I’ll loose face with these 'friends of ours' (or maybe I’ve been watching too many mob movies lately). Hope you enjoy the changes, and we’ll always take feedback. There will be another addition to regular bloggers later in the week as well.

Now to the topic of the week…

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I was talking with a friend recently about one of our favorite topics (especially now that Sopranos has ended), climate change. We agreed that one way to help the problem is to encourage people to use public transportation more often instead of their personal vehicles. When we talked about how to do this, however, he called me a Republican and threatened to end our relationship. Good naturedly, I assure you. :)

I happen to live in a city with a very good and safe transportation (compared to a lot of other places) that I use everyday, so it’s hard for me to step back and see these things from the point of view of someone who chooses to drive themselves rather than use the subways, buses, or trains when they’re available. Full disclosure: I own a car that I park on the street and use exclusively on the weekends to either leave town for a weekend trip or to do grocery shopping and Target runs in Virginia.

The first thing most of us consider is to make driving for regular commuters cost prohibitive. I worry, though, that too many changes would make owning a car impossible for any but the rich, especially in urban environments. Raising the price of parking and car taxes mostly hurts people who live in the city and probably already take public transportation because they’re already close to where they need to go. I’m probably one of the only people who think that rising gas prices are not a terrible thing (although, I’ll admit that I do complain about them when I stop every month or two to fill up). However, they don’t seem to do much in the way of encouraging drivers to find other ways to get where they need to go. So what would?

London instituted a commuter tax in 2003, when I happened to be there studying for a semester. There was a big uproar, naturally, from the people who would have to pay 5 pounds every day to enter the city, but most of the media seemed to be in favor of it. I laughed with snarky glee at some of the editorials that lambasted the opponents of the tax as rich suburban snobs who were too stuck-up to endure a ride into town surrounded by their fellow citizens. But honestly, I laughed because I didn’t have a car in London and took subways, buses, and long walks to wherever I needed/wanted to go. This commuter tax idea was mentioned in Washington not long ago, but died quickly and without a whimper. Could something like this ever pass in the US? And is it even working in Britain ?

Obviously, increasing the availability of public transportation is essential to promoting it. As long as people have an excuse not to use it, they won’t. Some of us, at certain points of our lives can make choices around this. For example, after college, two of my best friends asked me about moving to south Florida with them and sharing a house. I said no largely because I can’t stand the idea of having to drive down the interstate or a major highway just to stop by the store after work. I find south Florida, especially the Ft. Lauderdale area, to be too sprawling and inaccessible for my taste. Being fresh out of college and unemployed, I had the option to choose a more metropolitan area where things were close enough together to make public transportation feasible. But having that kind of freedom is not something that happens too many times in one’s life.

And what about places like San Francisco? I don’t have a link to back me up here, but I understand that they have a pretty good transit system, but most people drive anyway. Why?

What does it take to get people less reliant on their own transportation and more willing to use energy- and pollution-efficient public transportation? Will the federal government ever pass bans or limits that force people into taking better care? Or maybe I’m looking at this all wrong and there are better, easier ways to save our own hides (besides those $4 florescent light bulbs that Al Gore talked me into buying…grrrr)? What do you think?