For the past few days I’ve been seeing a story kicking around about an individual in Detroit who walks 21 miles to work every day. First and foremost let me say, good on him! I honestly don’t know if I’d have the stamina to do something like that. But I suppose if you don’t have any other choice, as they say, you gotta do what you gotta do. I can’t help but wonder if there are similar stories like this one that haven’t been told. Taking into account the current state of the economy and the precarious financial predicament of many, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are.
This story also brought to mind the attitude I see from a lot of people when they lose access to their car for even a little while. I’ve seen otherwise reasonable, thoughtful people turn into whimpering basket cases when they can’t actually drive. I wonder if they’re feeling the same feeling I had when I lost the speech on my iPhone for a time last month. The best way I can describe it was a creeping sense of panic deep in my gut. It showed me that, despite my best efforts, I had developed a somewhat pathological attachment to my phone. It’s my observation that some have the same pathological attachment to their carkeys. This attachment would be harmless if it didn’t color opinions about alternate transportation options such as mass transit. There are some who view having to take a city bus as a fate worse than death. After all, “those people” use mass transit—people too poor to afford a car, people who can’t get licenses for other reasons—in short, the losers of society. In many instances, if people think about mass transit at all, it’s a belief that it needs to go away. In my adult lifetime, I’ve seen several very robust transit systems in certain areas get stripped down to absolute bare bones. Meanwhile, new highway projects are pushed as optimal solutions. Not only is this shortsighted, it makes life much more difficult for those like me who actually rely on public transit as a lifeline to the community. I’m continually amazed with how so many just don’t get this. Over the years I’ve had occasion to ask advocates of cutting public transit funds what they’d say to someone like me who can’t drive and needs the service. Way too many times I’ve gotten the audible equivalent of a blank stare and the remark “well, can’t you just get someone to drive you?” I’m still trying to figure out a polite way to answer that without sarcasm. Some municipalities do get it. Portland and Phoenix’s light rail systems and the Puget Sound’s Sounder rail system come to mind. For the most part, though, dismantling is the order of the day. I live in a town with a transit system that, while it does exist, really doesn’t seem to be terribly significant. Also, there isn’t any way for me to independently get to Indianapolis, a mere 30 miles away, without spending a fortune on cab fare or inconveniencing someone else to drive me there. I’ve read that this story has prompted people to donate, at last count, $80,000 to this individual, offer free cars, etc. What I do not see is a broader discussion on what’s actually causing him to need to do this. And, so long as the car entitlement mentality holds, that conversation will probably never be had.
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