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Thursday, November 10, 2005
Buses and trains aren’t the way
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Adventure week is ending. Never got around to the bus. Based on the published trip schedules and colleagues’ accounts, the trip down to Atlanta from Cobb would gobble huge chunks of time.
Buses are for emergencies, for those with time to burn, for those who otherwise drive long distances, for those who work fixed times and rarely go elsewhere during the day, and for the carless.
Putting more big buses on neighborhood routes in what once was considered “suburban” Atlanta doesn’t, in most instances, give us “choice.” As with trains, it is an investment in nostalagia. Too few potential riders.
The best approach to congestion relief is to subject “solutions” to cost-benefit analysis. Buy real relief — and that’s most likely added lanes, improved roads and ramps and smarter signaling.
Permalink | Comments (114) | Categories: Jim Wooten
Will our bosses ever get a clue?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The AJC has news offices in five metro locations besides downtown. I’m working in the one in Cobb right now. It is five miles from my home, and it takes me 10 to 12 minutes to get here in rush hour.
By working here two days a week, instead of downtown, I can save 40 percent in fuel costs per week and cut commuting time by about the same amount.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Why can’t more of us do it?
Corporate America, I think, likes to talk about carpooling and telecommuting more than it actually wants to encourage them.
Too many bosses still operate under the “a* in chairs” culture — meaning when they emerge from their offices during the day they want to see the minions toiling away at their desks.
That’s hard to do when the staff is distributed in remote locations or working at home. And carpooling requires bosses to give their employees flexible schedules so they can come and go in something close to the same time frame as their driving buddies.
What did I learn this week? That I’m glad I can work close to home at least a couple of days a week and that I have friends and co-workers who can drive with me. I hope my bosses learned the same thing.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Mike King
6 miles of rolling bones and stalking feet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After walking to work this morning from Decatur, I have concluded that those pedestrian signal buttons at busy intersections are traffic engineers’ idea of a wedgie. My husband says he has it on good authority — a county traffic guy — that most of the buttons are not even connected to anything. If I waited for the walk signals to cross the street today, I’d still be at Edgewood and Boulevard.
But otherwise the six-mile walk was great, taking me through Lake Claire, Candler Park and Inman Park, the core of liberal Atlanta. I am glad my colleague Jim Wooten wasn’t with me. Jim, with the John Kerry signs still on lawns, the Che Guevara T-shirts in shop windows and the “Bush Lies” graffiti on the sidewalks, it would have been your Trail of Tears.
I got hungry about halfway through and considered stopping at my boss Cynthia Tucker’s house for breakfast. But I knew the only thing in her fridge was probably a jar of low-fat mayonnaise.
Even though I’ve driven this route a thousand times, I saw things today I never noticed before, including a shop selling love potions, a lighting store with the sign, “Think outside the bulb,” and a drive-through barbecue joint called Rolling Bones. My favorite sight was a front-yard fountain whose water spouted through a pumpkin.
I collected friendly nods from other walkers, but the bikers in Spandex snubbed me. I kept expecting to see Cynthia puffing her way to work on her bike, but she claims she took a different route than I did. She showed up at the office in bike shorts and a helmet but I told her I wanted to inspect her car to see whether a bike rack was on top.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Maureen Downey
Don’t try this at home
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A helmeted Cynthia Tucker riding a scooter last week. The scooter was a laughing matter; today’s bike ride wasn’t.
Having read about the death of runner Patricia Foell, who was struck by a car while jogging in the predawn darkness yesterday, I nearly abandoned my plan to bike in this morning.
I did it anyway, and it was, by far, the riskiest commute I’ve had all week — and that includes taking MARTA after dark!
Metro Atlanta drivers have no respect for pedestrians, joggers, cyclists, roller bladers or anyone else who takes to the roadways without the minimum armor of two tons of steel.
Permalink | Comments (226) | Categories: Cynthia Tucker
