Ok...! It's time to let the "experts and pundits," the former beauraucrats, present academics and ever-lasting journalists have their say!
Guess what I found on YouTube?
"Traffic in L.A. Panel Discussion: The Ever-Lasting Gridlock?"
It took place on March 29, 2007 at the L.A. Press Club moderated by treasurer and board member, Rory Johnston. The panelists included:
-Tom Rubin, "former Administrator of Public Transport in Southern California."
-James E. Moore II, "Professor of Engineering at USC, he's an expert on the technology side" (in Mr. Johnston's words)
-Ted Balaker, "a journalist who has his particular views on the issues."
This video is the "Video News Advisory", and Mr. Johnston promises, or rather hopes, the following:
"We're hoping to really clarify the issues and come up with some solutions that nobody else has ever thought of, and then we'll be able to be driving with ease from here to eternity."
Mr. Johnston must be a tad facetious or disingenius because I have to tell you: I viewed and listened to the whole thing (all five video parts of the panel discussion) and I didn't hear a single thing that was new. I did hear a lot of clarifications on the federally-mandated and political roadblocks to improvement and a lot of clarifications "on the technical side" (the correlation between capacity and congestion), but I didn't hear anything new or inspiring or ground-breaking or enlightening.
Not to rain on anyone's parade and you can judge for yourself, but somehow, after listening to the whole panel discussion, I was left with the feeling that, if we could somehow, by magic, give these three panelists the power to do whatever they wanted to fix traffic in Southern California, the whole thing would end up just as it is now: a mess. I mean, come on, one of the panelists was a former beauraucrat, somebody, who, when he was in office, had the power and influence to make a difference. I didn't hear him take any responsibility for the current state of affairs or offer any truly enlightening or ground-breaking suggestions. Just more of the same. Actually, the one "solution" they all seem to agree on, "tolling," is the one I disagree with (but more on that later or see my posting Would taxing the Modern Hell (rush hour) turn it into the Modern Heaven (traffic-free cities)?).
But anyway, judge for yourself. I'll post all five video parts of the panel discussion and respond to each one individually.
Speaking of technology, we've got the latest technology--well, YouTube, courtesy of parent company Google--to deliver their message to you...
LA Traffic Panel Discussion - Video News Advisory
If you really want my opinion (don't answer that! it's rhetorical! ;-), the best thing about the whole thing, other than getting some kind of public discussion about the issue going, was the use of Jimi Hendrix's "Crosstown Traffic" as background music for this video clip. He was great! He wouldn't make a great L.A. driver with this attitude, but he reflects beautifully the way we all feel in traffic...
Crosstown Traffic by Jimi Hendrix
You jump in front of my car when you,
You know all the time that
Ninty miles an hour, girl, is the speed I drive
You tell me it's alright, you don't mind a little pain
You say you just want me to take you for a ride
You're just like crosstown traffic
So hard to get through to you
Crosstown traffic
I don't need to run over you
Crosstown traffic
All you do is slow me down
And I'm tryin to get on the other side of town
I'm not the only soul whos accused of hit and run
Tire tracks all across your back
I can see you had your fun
But darlin' can't you see my signals turn from green to red
And with you I can see a traffic jam straight up ahead
You're just like crosstown traffic
So hard to get through to you
Crosstown traffic
I don't need to run over you
Crosstown traffic
All you do is slow me down
And I got better things on the other side of town
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Monday, October 01, 2007
Experts, pundits, academics, and journalists weigh in on the issue
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Rush Hour: the modern hell
Rush Hour: the modern hell
Whoever invented the 8-hour 9-to-5 work day, invented the rush hour. Whoever invented the layout of cities in grids, invented gridlock. Whoever invented the daily commute invented MODERN HELL.
Or should we say "modern PURGATORY"? It is a kind of two-hour limbo. Can you imagine what it would be like without the conveniences of the modern automobile? Air-contioning, radio and CD player or iPod, cell phone. Hell, indeed. One of the things keeping commuters stuck in traffic from going berserk is probably the cell phone: yakking away makes them pass the time without realizing it.
Has anyone seen Fellini's 8 1/2? The opening dream sequence of Guido stuck in a traffic jam in Rome in one of the most famous and memorable scenes in all of cinema. It was copied as the opening scene in Falling Down with Michael Douglas as a disgruntled defense employee who's been fired in the early 90's and, finding himself stuck in a traffic jam in L.A., snaps and goes on a rampage.
That scene from "8 1/2" was shot in 1962. Cars didn't have the modern conveniences of today back then--certainly not air-contioning, CD players, iPods, or cell phones! But Rome already had traffic jams! Rome is a very ancient city, though. Whatever is "modern" in Rome comes from the destruction of world War II and the rebuilding that followed. Unbelievably, Rome has a subway. As Fellini's own Roma documents, wherever they dug, the found Roman ruins. Still, they managed to build a subway--proof on Europe's unswerving commitment to good, reliable public transportation.
L.A. has had many chances to redeem herself when it comes to public transportation, but it has missed most of those chances. L.A. is "car city, USA." Detroit may be "car maker city, USA" but L.A. is "car showcase city, USA." This is where most of the cars made in Detroit, Europe and Japan end up: Southern California. If that is the case, wouldn't you think that the city itself would be the showcase for one of the most marvelous transit and traffic systems in the world?
Perhaps this WAS so 50 or 40 years ago, but as my posts so far have demonstrated, it is a system that has failed miserably to adapt and update itself in the midst of an unprecedented explosion in urban and population growth. What to do to make sure it does adapt and update itself is what this blog is all about. Whether any of this would ever reach the "ears"and minds of those with the power to do anything about it, is anyone's guess.
Just like we've wondered how it is possible that no one (not even Buckminster Fuller?) seems to have steered urban planning AWAY from the GRID, it seems that no one has had the political power or will to steer companies away from the rush hour. WHY does most everyone's workday HAVE TO start at 8:00, 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning? WHY does most everyone's workday HAVE TO end at 4:30, 5:00, 5:30 in the evening? Just like we have Daylight SAVINGS time, couldn't we have Daily RUSH HOUR SAVINGS time? The modern workday is the recipe for the modern gridlock of rush hour--modern hell.
Would tax breaks be the incentive to have companies use a staggered work schedule? If company A starts working at 8:00am and company B at 9:00am and company C at 10:00am, that hour between them would also space out the volume of cars on the road heading in their direction. This is not an Utopian dream. This is something that local governments and local companies should be seriously considering. Just like urban planning needs to start steering away from the grid and the gidlock it causes, cities and their workforces need to start steering away from the rush hour the 9-to-5 workday causes.
It is a bit paradoxical (let's steer clear of the word "ironic") that in the age of telecommunications, the computer, and the internet, there seems to be more people on the road at rush hour. Couldn't they get the same work done telecommuting from home with a phone and a broadband connection?
The movie Falling Down ends with the Michael Douglas character caught in a real "jam." Unless the whole movie was a bad dream, he would have been better off staying in that traffic jam and daydreaming (or yakking away on his cell phone! Guess they didn't really have those back in '93!). And we, too, can dream that L.A. has wonderful traffic. But unless we do something about it, it'll be just a dream. As it is, angelenos are caught themselves in a jam, a real jam--as in traffic jam. Let them keep their cell phones if that keeps them from going berserk like Michael Douglas in Falling Down.
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Make it viral. Make it vital...
Thursday, May 11, 2006
The mirage of high gas prices: addiction-driven demand?
The mirage of high gas prices: addiction-driven demand?
In Angelenos for Higher Gas Prices [http://www.dynamist.com/weblog/archives/002138.html], Virginia Postrel writes,
"At $3.50/gallon Mickey Kaus is channeling an observation I made when L.A. gas crossed the $2.00 mark: 'After a week in L.A., with a car for a few trips downtown, I'm starting to feel pretty friendly toward high gas prices. Having to pay more than $2 a gallon does wonders for the traffic.'"
Really? Has anybody noticed that much of a difference in traffic because of high gas prices? I'm skeptical of high gas prices as the solution to traffic problems. You know what they say, "Anything that goes up must eventually come back down." The oil shocks of the 70's made Americans give up their "gas guzzlers" for highly fuel-efficient compact Japanese cars in the 80's and 90's but they didn't exactly give up their cars altogether for public transportation. If high gas prices are indeed making angelenos drive less, it is an ephemreral illussion. As soon as the prices come back down (and they'd better or they'll have the President's head and that of the heads of the major oil companies on a platter), they'll hit the road again right away . Take my word for it.
On his blog http://blog.lib.umn.edu/levin031/transportationist - Value of time vs. Cost of gas, David M. Levinson comments on the above observation by Ms. Postrel,
"In Dynamist Blog: Angelenos for Higher Gas Prices Virginia Postrel notes the upside of higher gas prices ... less traffic. We can do a back-of-the-envelope calculation. So let's say her car gets 30 miles per gallon, and gas is $3 per gallon, she is paying $0.10/mile. If she were traveling at 50 miles per hour when gas was $2 per gallon ($0.067/mile) and 60 miles per hour now (at $3/gallon), she is traveling 20% faster (a one mile trip used to take 1 minute and 12 seconds but now only takes 1 minute). (I doubt average speeds have increased that much, but if she is noticing it, it is probably at least 10%)."
In other words, if I understand well, the speed of traffic is directly proportional to the cost of gas? The higher the price, the higher the speed (fewer cars on the road); the lower the price, the lower the speed (more cars on the road)? And the faster the speed, the sooner you get "there" and the more time you save? Academics love calculations right down to the last digit. I prefer the SOLID PERCEPTION of getting in a car and driving to my destination without frustrating delays to the misleading comfort of numbers and percentages.
High gas prices are not like a cholesterol-reducing drug for an obese person (if I may, again, use my recurring analogy). An obese person doesn't stop eating because food is more expensive anymore than a drug-addict stops using drugs because the price of cocaine has gone through the roof. Nothing can replace good diet and exercise (or rehab). Driving (or going out for no good purpose at all) can be a necessity, it can be a convenience, but it can also be an addiction. The job I was doing required me to drive all over town to meet clients. Sometimes, stuck in traffic in the middle of the day, I'd wonder, "what in the world are all these people doing out and about at this time of day? They are not commuters. The commuters have their cars parked at work." Academics and staticians interested in numbers might want to find out what are all those people doing on the road at ALL TIMES of day and night in L.A. One of the best solutions to the traffic problem may lie in the answers to that question.
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Make it viral. Make it vital...
