Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

Streetsblog.net Contrarian Thinking: Against Transportation

As the two chambers of the Congress haggle over the stimulus plan (see The Transport Politic's
handy comparison of transpo-related spending in the House and Senate
bills), we'll take a moment to step back and look at the bigger
picture, courtesy of Streetsblog Network member blog Where. They have a post entitled "Against Transportation" that poses these questions:

SUBWAY.jpgPhoto by truffes via Flickr.

Urban transportation: What are we going to do about it? Fewer cars? More mass transit? More bikes? Fuel taxes?

It's
tempting to try solving transportation problems with more
transportation. The sight of rush hour traffic jams in cities, or the
experience of riding an overcrowded bus or train, suggest the need for
increased transit capacity. As a short term solution, that may indeed
be the best remedy. In the long run, however, it’s more like
supplementing a junk food diet with a few healthy snacks.

Instead, Where cites the work of Christopher Alexander and asks us to imagine this: 

[I]t might be a helpful first step to scatter workplaces throughoutdense cities…along peripheral transit lines or within walking andbiking distance of neighborhood residences. A lot of work disappearedin 2008 and plenty more is sure to vanish in 2009. If and when thatwork comes back, it doesn’t all need to end up downtown.

Your thoughts?

Also on the network today: Greater City: Providence notes the shoddy quality of new highway infrastructure in Rhode Island, Milwaukee Rising asks why Wisconsin's governor can't rein in his road-happy DOT, and the National Journal asks, "How Will We Pay for the Transportation We Need?"

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

This Week In Livable Streets

ICE protests, Metro NoHo-Pasadena BRT meetings, Metro Sepulveda Transit meetings, and more

July 14, 2025

Koreatown Community Rallies To Reclaim Our Streets From ICE Terror

"This is an attack on Los Angeles. This is an attack on California. On all of us."

July 11, 2025

Give Input on Metro Sepulveda Rail Plan to connect Valley and Westside

Metro is still deciding between some low-performing monorail alternatives and some high-performing heavy rail alternatives. What do you want to see?

July 10, 2025
See all posts