Raise the Hammer

Oh come on people, its my god given right to drive my car whenever, wherever and at a speed that will allow me to travel across the entire city using nothing but residential streets in under 12 minutes. Oh yes, cyclists just get in the way, let them be my personal bumper pads! I'M JUST KIDDING BY THE WAY! Seriously I am just kidding!

On a more serious note though, one of the biggest differences I found in the actual people in some of these more progressive cities is their complete difference in the expectations of what a city should be and what a city needs to provide its public. Especially, when it comes to the form or modal choice of personal transport.

There is no expectation that large distances should be traversed on 2,3 or 4 lane urban road at any time of the day as quick or more quickly than a car driving above the speed limit, on a completely empty suburban expressway in the middle of the night. Also, the failure to provide this level of service for cars and trucks anywhere at anytime is not considered a failure in transportation planning.

The concept that, anyone who does not travel by use of their own personal car past the age of 16, is a total "loser" or is just poor or a bum, is almost universally laughed at and or frowned upon in these more progressive cities! I could have used other stronger or more colourful descriptions I have heard over the years.

The concept that proper transportation planning may mean that, personal cars are actively discouraged and their drivers forced on to some other transportation mode so that, desperately needed local freight can be moved by local delivery truck easily, quickly and cheaply.

In stead of tying up huge swaths of intercity highways with a endless lines of heavy trucks force long distance freight carriers traveling over certain distances, to use trains to move general cargo. That you also force municipal politicians to actually set aside, sometimes large areas of land so that, you can have rail-truck cargo interchanges. These interchanges can be built so those said trains, can actually off load the cargo to local trucks in a safe place. Something we actually right now can't do in the city of Ottawa. I'm not talking about a freight car classification and storage yard (what most people think of as a rail yard) Our last operating railway/truck freight interchange yard inside the boundaries of the city was closed a few years ago. A large car oriented big box store mall ironically named "The Train Yards" opened soon after. Right now if you want to send cargo to Ottawa by train you can't unload anything more than a few box at a time cars inside Ottawa. Everything entering our city must travel by truck! Were not the only major Canadian city that has that problem.

The most amazing thing I found that was different for most people in these more progressive cities, is the concept that bike lanes, bus lanes and sidewalks are just as important as the free flow vehicle lanes on our main roads. That spending those taxes on our surface transportation system not be 95% spent on roads lanes for just cars and trucks. That the tax funding burden for transit be equally applied across the urban and suburban areas of the city and yes, that a useable transit system also be provided across all suburban and urban areas of the city as well as rural areas where possible.