On last week’s Smart City radio program, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt talks about (MP3, 15M) sprawl and the current pattern of mindless roadbuilding.
There’s also a segment with local Portland educational thinker Laurel Dukehart about getting high school dropouts back on the path to college.
Yesterday’s Willamette Week features an article about the cities (including Portland) and state agencies converting the motorpools to use carsharing companies like Flexcar.
Clearly this is a good deal for the governments, they are saving real dollars on the vehicle costs. And presumably it’s good business for Flexcar.
But why is it good for transportation in Portland generally? Because carsharing is a ‘virtuous circle’ operation. The more customers there are, the more vehicles there are, which means using them becomes more convenient, generating more customers. So the conversion of any fleet to Flexcar makes carsharing more useful for all of us.
And carsharing is good for the community for a number of reasons:
– Reduces auto-ownership (freeing up parking in dense neighborhoods like mine)
– Research shows that carsharing users are more likely to use transit, bikes and their feet for many trips, with all the accompanying benefits to the community in reduced congestion and environmental advantages.
So my question is, what are other fleets, perhaps in the private sector, that we could encourage Flexcar to go chase?
Our traveling companion Jeff Mapes writes in the In Portland section of the Oregonian this morning about our field trip to the Netherlands. Over at Bike Portland Jonathan has already done a nice summary of the article so I won’t repeat it here. I’ll just take the opportunity to mention that we’ve created a new category to consolidate all our posts regarding the trip (20 and counting).
When Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man 50 years ago, her courage gave face to a movement that would forever change our society and institutions. Her heroic act on Dec. 1, 1955 sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and for 381 days blacks, who made up the majority of bus riders, refused to ride. By saying “no” to inequality, Parks said “no” to discrimination of Black Americans through segregation that included separate drinking fountains, restrooms and schools.
When Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man 50 years ago, her courage gave face to a movement that would forever change our society and institutions. Her heroic act on Dec. 1, 1955 sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and for 381 days blacks, who made up the majority of bus riders, refused to ride. By saying “no” to inequality, Parks said “no” to discrimination of Black Americans through segregation that included separate drinking fountains, restrooms and schools.
TriMet, the Albina Ministerial Alliance (AMA) and the community commemorate Rosa Parks’ legacy and the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott.
TriMet is also displaying a historic photo essay commemorating Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement inside and outside buses from December 1 through February. You can also see them at trimet.org/rosa to learn more about Rosa, the boycott and the civil rights movement.
Moment of Silence
TriMet wll also briefly stop all buses at noon to observe a moment of silence for Rosa Parks. Bus operators will make the following announcement: “We ask for a moment of silence as we remember Rosa Parks’ legacy. Today marks the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ arrest after refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama.”
Rosa Parks died October 25, 2005 at the age of 92.
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