Green, mean, Seville!

I was a huge fan of Seville when I went there during the winter of 2008. It was just such a sunny, happy, walkable city, with some gorgeous historical buildings, a wonderful old city, great food, vibrant modern interiors in gorgeous old buildings, and of course, flamenco. The Plaza de Espana, although little used now, was a stunning piece of architecture that I couldn't take my eyes off of.

Now, I find this article on BBC, talking about how Seville is now one of the greenest cities around, and I can't help but say... "just one more huge reason to visit one of the coolest cities in Spain."

From the article: Kick-started by proactive city mayor, Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín in 2007, the lightning pace of Seville’s “greening” defies its laidback fiesta and siesta image. In the span of just five years, the Sevillanos have instituted a community bike-sharing scheme, a surface tram, an underground metro, two high-speed train links, a pilot electric car programme and -- 20km away in Sanlúcar la Mayor -- the first commercial solar power plant in Europe.

More Mind-boggling Transportation Decisions!

The MTA in New York City is again increasing fares for its passengers in the midst of a huge budget crisis spurred by lower revenues and decreased state subsidies. The New York Times reports on the situation. Budget issues - I get it. People have to pay for their use of public transportation - okay. I'm a liberal socialist because I think that we should have better public transit - fine. Whatever. It's stuff like THIS:


A toll increase on the authority’s nine tunnels and bridges was also proposed, but the board will not vote on that plan until Oct. 27. Drivers who pay cash potentially face an increase of 30 percent or higher, while E-ZPass drivers may not pay any increase at all, under a proposal gaining momentum on the board.

that get me the most though. A 17% increase on 30-day passcard holders - people who use public transit the most and pollute via car emissions the least in the city - but NO increase for people who cross the bridge so frequently that they can't be bothered to pull out some cash and wait in line and who arguably pollute the most via car emissions.

Yes, this makes a lot of sense. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it doesn't make sense. It does, given a certain set of circumstances and beliefs (which I do not hold.) Essentially, this set of policies promotes car usage at the expense of public transit usage, promotes emissions pollution instead of a better environment, and reinforces the current car-centric, unsustainable nature of our cities.

On a related note, NJ governor Chris Christie today also killed off an expansion to the Hudson Tunnel that would have increased train capacity into Manhattan from NJ. I'd say it was a great day for public transportation in the New York Metro Area.

A new form of public transportation

Now THIS is pretty incredible. I always say that technology alone is not going to solve our environmental issues (wholesale behavior change is really what's going to do it!) but when things like this are invented, it sure does make me reconsider!

Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment

Check out this humdinger of a public transportation system. It "hovers" over traffic, allowing municipalities to essentially, have their cake and eat it too. You replace buses, you get roads, and you save space. I haven't thought enough about it to really poke holes in the logic - for now, I'm just pretty excited to see this outside of the box thinking actually being produced. That's right, they're going into production already. Read more about it here in the New York Times.

Nobody walks in LA....

but what about taking the bus? I have a couple friends in LA who have tried hard to utilize public transportation as much as possible. It's certainly not easy, but it is do-able. Especially if you are doing most of your traveling in certain corridors, like downtown LA to mid-wilshire or downtown LA to Hollywood.

However, getting from suburb to suburb can be ridiculously difficult. One friend tried to come to Torrance from Westwood (about 20 miles) and had to transit through LAX and take three different buses. It was about 2 and a half hours and six dollars or so. I myself tried once long ago to go from Torrance to the Long Beach airport. The story was largely the same, three buses, one crazy drugged out woman, two and a half hours, and about 3 dollars.

So it was with a little trepidation that I happened upon the idea of taking a bus to downtown LA to meet with a friend for lunch. The thing that made me hopeful was that the City of Torrance operates a direct bus to Union Station that only costs 2 dollars and is supposed to get there in less than 90 minutes. It seemed do-able, pretty cheap ($2 one way), and relatively painless, so I decided to try it.

I am happy to report that although the trip is somewhat long, it is definitely a viable choice. It routes around Torrance and Gardena a bit too much, but there are no transfers, the bus is pretty comfortable, and surprisingly, it's actually ridden by a larger number of people than I expected. The route goes from Del Amo Mall to the South Bay Galleria to the Artesia Transit Center, and then finally drops you off at Union Station.

Which, by the way, is actually a lot prettier than I expected... and as ridiculous as it sounds, this is the first time in my nearly 3 decades in LA that I have actually been to Union Station. I inquired about Amtrak fares, and I am seriously considering taking the Amtrak up to the Bay or even Portland.

Anyway, the icing on the cake is that the bus actually got there a bit early, despite all of its stops and the circuitous route. Still much longer than the 30 minutes it would take me to drive (without traffic), but like I said, a completely viable choice for living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. We still have to do a lot more about routing to places other than downtown LA, but it's a start. It may also be the first of many trips for me on the bus to downtown LA!

Adventures on the bus in the South Bay

The scene: I'm standing at a bus stop on El Camino Real with a bag of groceries in one hand, a bag of plant seedlings and two 8 foot bamboo poles in the other hand, and my bus pass in my mouth pleading with the bus driver to let me on the bus promising him that I won't impale anybody on the bus. Luckily for me, the bus driver let me in and I made it home. =)

The whole story: It's Saturday morning and I wanted to head up to Common Ground (a non-profit organic garden supply and education center) in Palo Alto to pick up some plant seedlings and seeds for my community garden plot. I have a couple non-driving options to make the 10 mile round trip from my house in downtown Mountain View: 1. I can take the Caltrain to California Ave (8 min train ride + 5-10 min walk on both ends), 2. I can take the 522 "Rapid" bus (15 min bus ride + 5-10 walk on both ends). I opt for the bus because it runs every 15 minutes whereas the train only runs every hour.

On my way there, I get lucky and the bus comes 1 min after I get there and I get to Palo Alto really fast. In fact I get there 20 min before Common Ground opens in the morning, so I stroll up California Ave to Palo Alto Baking Company. I wanted to pick up a baguette later in the day anyway (so I save a potential car trip!) and I also get a chance to pick up a chocolate mousse cake as a nice surprise for my wife. And then as I'm walking back down California Ave, I remember that I need to pick up chips for a Father's Day potluck at my daughter's daycare the following week so I stop in to Country Sun Natural Foods. I pick up some Kettle chips (they happen to be on sale!) plus some other groceries (including some Marin Sun Farms sustainably raised beef since it's the only outlet on the Peninsula for this). Another car trip later averted!

When I walk a couple blocks over to Common Ground, I pick up a few seed packets and some corn, watermelon and strawberry seedlings. And then I ask if they have a trellis for my sugar snap peas - I didn't see anything on their website so I wasn't expecting anything and was planning a trip to OSH later, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask. They don't have wood or metal trellises, but they do have nylon trellis netting and 8 foot bamboo poles to stake the netting. Great! 3 potential car trips averted and a great, productive morning full of buying sustainable, eco-friendly goods from locally owned businesses without driving a single mile. The only thing I need to do is figure out how to get my bag of groceries, my bag of seedlings, and two 8 foot bamboo poles back on the bus. Will they let me on the bus? The bus driver wouldn't really say no, would he/she?

I walk the 2 blocks over to the bus stop and check the schedule for the bus. Another bus is coming in 5 minutes - nice! I get ready for the bus with my grocery bag in one hand, my other bag and bamboo poles in the other, and my bus pass in my mouth so I can get on the bus quickly. When the bus pulls up, the bus door opens and the bus driver yells at me, "You can't come on the bus with those!", pointing at my bamboo poles. "I don't want you to hurt someone." So, I'm on the sidewalk with my hands full with my wonderful, productive morning possibly going down the train (or at least taking a long detour). But I plead my case promising not to hurt anyone on the bus, that I'm not a crazy guy (despite my strange belongings) and that I need to catch the bus to make it home. Thank you, VTA bus driver! I didn't catch your name, but I made a positive comment on the VTA website on your bus # and route! Total trip time: 1 hr 45 min. 4 errands completed, all without getting in a car, and home by 11am.

June driving/non-driving totals thru 6/13:

- Driving solo: 8 miles

- Driving w/ carpool: 108 miles (96 on 1 trip to SF)

- Days of no driving: 6 out of 12 days with 0 miles driving

http://transformca.org/blog/adventures-bus-south-bay

Re-thinking getting around

Living in the sprawling 'burbs of Silicon Valley, it can be easy to not think about how to get around. If you don't think about it, most people will default to getting in their car and driving to wherever they need to go - whether it be 20 miles or 2 miles away.  

I've decided to do an easy thing and just start thinking more.  For the last few years, I have already tried to limit my car use - with a fair amount of success (I take the train to work every day and live in an area where I can walk to most everyday amenities like the bank, restaurants, coffee shops, pharmacy/convenience store, library, etc.).  However, I have to admit, I have become complacent about it.  I think about the bigger choices I make (commuting by train) and often get lazy about the little choices (sometimes driving the 0.75 miles to my community garden plot instead of walking or biking).  

But I've been inspired.  If I spend just a little bit more time thinking about how I get around, I think it can make a huge difference. 

For example, this afternoon, I went to a gardening class in a neighboring city (Sunnyvale), a short 3 1/2 miles from my house.  I could have very easily got in my car and driven 5-10 minutes there and back and not thought a thing about it.  But a couple days ago, I decided to spend 5-10 minutes looking into if I could get there by public transit.  I found out that I could indeed take the train there.   The 25 minute trip if I walked to/from the train station (5 minutes from my house to the station, 5 minutes on the train, and 15 minutes from the Sunnyvale train station to the gardening class).  And then I realized if I rode my bike, I could cut the trip to 15 minutes!  5-10 minutes of planning ahead of time and I could feel good about not having to get in my car for an out of the ordinary outing - not bad. 

And then when it came time to actually make the trip today... I was running late from lunch, so I was scrambling to get out the door on time to catch the train.  And then when I got downstairs, I realized that my tires were a bit low on air so I spent a couple minutes I didn't have pumping up my tires. And then I scrambled onto my bike, booked it to the train station, and... got there 2 minutes too late!  For a second, I was peeved by the fallacies of taking public transit.  And then I realized that the class was only 3.5 miles away and that I could probably make it there in 15-20 minutes and still be there on time.  So I jumped back on my bike and dragged my out of shape ass down there in time for the class.  After the class was over, I was tired and it had started to rain, so I biked the 1/2 mile to the Sunnyvale train station and took the train home. 

When I got home, it felt so good to have biked and taken public transit to my class.  And I realized that all I needed to do was to think just a little bit more.  All the info to make these decisions is at my fingertips (Google Maps, Google Transit and/or 511.org).  And then I was inspired when I thought of the huge impact we could have on the world just by thinking a little bit more.