With this being a leap-year, and the great day fast approaching, I hereby declare February 29th as “Complain about alternative transportation day.”
So how about it? You’ve got a whole extra day this year. Why not spend 20 minutes of it harshing your elected officials about how hard it is for you to walk, bike, or ride the bus to more of your favorite destinations? Transportation is the #1 issue brought up to Alders here in Madison, but the complaints usually center on problems associated with driving. It is no wonder that they find it hard to justify adding a bike lane, a ped connection, or keep bus fares low when so much of what they hear tells them to invest in improving the driving experience. 56% of Americans want more smart growth according to a National Realtors Poll, so how about spending some time helping to correct the imbalance? If you are like most Americans, you actually drive a lot and you would rather see somebody else be able to walk, bus, or bike more – that’s fine. Find something that irritates you, and find a way to solve the problem by improving the walking, biking, or bussing experience. Then complain about it.
Are you irritated at the prospect of $5 gasoline? You might complain that spending on bicycling and walking options has been flat in Madison since 2007, while major streets spending has gone up by 20% during the same time, even though there is a growing backlog of bike & ped projects. Part of the reason gas prices go up so much is that not enough people have a convenient alternative they can use when the price of gas gets too high for them. Give people better alternatives, and that puts downward pressure an gas prices during shortages.
Or are you are irritated about sitting in your car on a congested freeway on your way across town to get to your job out on the periphery? You might complain that there isn’t enough cheap office space downtown that would cut your trip in half and allow more people to walk, bus, or bike to work and leave more space for others on the roads.
Perhaps you are irritated with all the bicycles parked in a way that blocks access to your favorite coffee shop. Instead of complaining to the police about the bicycles parked badly, you can call the city zoning inspector and complain that there isn’t enough convenient bicycle parking at the site.
Or say you are irritated at all the parking problems at the high school near you, and the loud “boom boom” cars that go by when school gets out. You might complain that the 1950’s-style bicycle parking that is packed needs to be updated and expanded. You might even complain that the middle schools that feed the high school have the same problem. Kids that start bicycling before age 16 are more likely to continue bicycling to school – and if they do, that means fewer parking problems.
With all the complaining that goes on about transportation, I am sure you can come up with some great complaints in favor of providing a better walking, biking, or transit experience that will help solve your most urgent issues next Wednesday. I’ll try posting a few of my own here between now and then.
