Transportation

The Chinese character for automobiles I have posted here is quite appropriate. The 2nd character means vehicle. The 1st character actually means gasoline, but it is a homonym for being upset...so to the non-native speaker looking at it from another angle it sounds like "the vehicle that makes one angry."

I certainly can live with that definiation. Cars are a huge waste of time. They're expensive, dangerous, socially isolating and remove incentive for much-needed exercise. In addition, as kids we always seeme to end up being seated in class behind the kid who loves cars and makes loud engine noises with his teeth while the teacher is talking. So, why do so many people drive? That's a topic for another blog, but I can say that my car today has given it's 30 day notice to me that it's resigning from operation as a motor vehicle.

My favorite is good, safe public transportation. It frees people to go wherever they want without having to worry about parking, sitting in traffic, etc. Some cities we have been in have very good public transportation. 香港 Hong Kong and 台北 Taipei both have good public transportation and are very walkable. Los Angeles is getting there but they still have to extend their light rail out to Santa Monica, out to Claremont...let's just say it's a work in progress.

A city that relies on public transportation must also not have a lot of dead open space. Those acres of greenery around every building that may look pretty from an auto passing by, is deadening to those on foot. When we lived around Shi Da University 師范大學 we had plenty of shops, outdoor markets and even a night market as we walked down the local streets to the nearest subway station or bus stop.