OK, as part of our presidential campaign (it's not for me:
htttp://webspawner.com/users/elections2008) we are launching a
campaign to get unncessary drivers (particularly the bad ones) off the
road, not by 6% in 15 years, but by 60%...
Oh yes, perfectly doable if there's the political will... and
transportation OPTIONS. We are waiting for Ralph Nader for our
challenge to take up the issue, but if not you know the party...
Banana Revolution.
Funny, Nader made cars so much safer, but never worked on preventing
accidents. I hope he's reading...
A drive toward fewer cars
There are other ways to get from A to B
By JANE HADLEY
P-I REPORTER
Steep gas prices.
Flabby bodies cruising for diabetes and heart trouble.
Global warming.
Air pollution.
If the pitfalls of automobiles aren't already enough to make you think
about chucking your car for other ways of getting around, consider the
growth that is in store for Seattle.
In the next 19 years, the city expects 22,000 new housing units and
50,000 new jobs.
Assuming the same percentage of people continued driving alone to
work, the city estimates it would have to build 20 city blocks of 10-
story parking garages downtown.
"Nobody wants to do that," says Patrice Gillespie-Smith, chief of
staff of the city's Department of Transportation. "We are very
motivated to offer incentives to get people out of their cars."
In 2000, 61 percent of all Seattle work trips were by someone driving
alone. By 2020, the city's transportation strategic plan wants to
knock that down to 55 percent. People tend to become more interested
in shifting out of their cars if gas or parking prices escalate, and
if alternatives to the car are reliable, affordable and convenient,
experts say.
But it often takes something unusual to inspire or shake people into
the awareness of those alternatives, said David Allen, senior
transportation planner for the city.
A city program called "One Less Car Challenge" aims to do just that,
Allen said. The program encourages people to give up use of one car
for one month, offering commuters tips on getting around by bus, bike
or foot and also providing the free use of a Flexcar when needed.
Of the 86 people who signed up initially in the fall of 2003, 20
percent decided to give up a car and the rest have vowed to drive
less, Allen said. "It proved people could do it," he said.
And the city is hoping to encourage people to use cars less by making
it more difficult to find places to park.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/258737_nocar08.html
