« Body Conscious | Main | All the Many Colored Saints »

October 31, 2009

Comments

Do you ever read Jarrett's Human Transit blog? I think it's one of the best things on the web.

oops, messed up the link.

http://www.humantransit.org/

I must admit to feeling a bit guilty. We have four drivers in this family and own four cars.

We will be going to one car when one of ours goes. Being five miles out of town and working as videographers, we still need something largish to haul gear in. But since we spend most of our working time in the studio next door, we don't put a lot of miles on a car.
The bike program is a fantastic idea and I hope Paris will follow the Canadian model and solve their problems.
I have a young French friend who is working on her masters in urban planning. She needs to do a work study. Any thoughts on where she could connect with a place in Montreal? She needs three months. She speaks French and English and is a lovely person, intelligent, lively and charming. And then we could come visit her.

I'm reminded of our spring trip to Paris and how impressed we were with its fantastic bike rental system! The only problem was that it did not accept our credit card. There's a way but we didn't get around to it. Vancouver, and especially it's surrounding satellite cities has a way to go yet in having this system. There's still a battle between car drivers and cyclists here but my husband commutes to work most days by bike - he sounds like you regarding the pleasures and freedom! We've been down to one car for about five years now. This year I'm even bussing up to the studio far more often than driving (I'm not a cyclist anymore, especially in the city and our steep 'hills'.) It would be difficult to give up the car altogether though.

Beth, this is really interesting. I hope it spreads!

(Agree with Dale about Jarrett's Human Transit blog, too.)

Beth, in France when I was staying at that self-catering place on the road near the hospital, I became much more aware of how damaging the whole car-culture is to human interaction, society in general and the environment - the disappearance of small local shops, the ugliness of places that have become only car-friendly instead of people-friendly, the dangers of walking in car-dominated surroundings... Yes, the bicycle is a boon but I for one, would never risk cycling in London. I'd be too scared of the very real possibility of being knocked down - plus my leg-power isn't that strong!


Does Montreal have a car coop? I would join in an instant if there was one here.

i always found the montreal bike lanes--tucked between parked cars and curb--to be extremely civilized. we are starting to make some of those here in the twin cities now.

EJ: yes, there is a popular car coop, called Communauto. Here's the link if you want to see more: http://www.communauto.com/

The comments to this entry are closed.

My Photo

Who was Cassandra?


  • In the Iliad, she is described as the loveliest of the daughters of Priam (King of Troy), and gifted with prophecy. The god Apollo loved her, but she spurned him. As a punishment, he decreed that no one would ever believe her. So when she told her fellow Trojans that the Greeks were hiding inside the wooden horse...well, you know what happened.

MY SMALL PRESS