Re: New form of rail transportation

[billboltonREMOVE-TO-EMAIL@computer.org (Bill Bolton)]

amorton@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au (Anthony Morton) wrote:

> Here's what Mees has to say about snow in 'A Very Public Solution' (pp 182-3):

All very well, but it doesn't mean its valid just because he says it.

> When I visited Ontario in 1994, I put this idea to the transport and urban
> planners I met.  All reacted with scepticism, responding that, if anything,
> it should be harder to persuade people to use public transport in inclement
> weather.  The same snow and ice that covers the roads also covers footpaths,
> and even a short wait in the open for a bus or tram is extremely uncomfortable.

Yet people do it in large numbers, as those transport planners should
have been well aware.

> I have only had the experience of waiting for a bus in temperatures below
> minus 10 degrees once in my life, but it was enough to illustrate the point.
> Public transport patronage on the TTC is actually lowest on days with heavy
> snowfall and in extremely inclement weather (for example, during January
> 1999), the system shuts down.

What happens on the few extreme days (see below) does not extrapolate
to the average winter days, as TTC ridership figures clearly show.

>"Heavy snowfall," the Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on Toronto reports,
> "is rare, even in January and February, the coldest months."

> Climatic records indicate that snow falls on forty-five days in a typical
> year, and that there is appreciable snow cover for two months per year.

Many Toronto residents will tell you that it "snows" for at least 4
months of the year, so clearly they have a different measure for
"appreciable"   

> Cities like Detroit

In which public transit is just about non existent.

> and Minneapolis

Bus only and an extensive undercover walkway system downtown.

> which have rates of public transport usage much lower even than Melbourne,

Which is not al all surprising given the lack of public transit
facilities.

> have climates that are similar to or colder than Toronto's.

Which is completely irrelevant

> It was snowing in Toronto in the winter of 1950, when public transport
> patronage was much lower than in Melbourne, and it has snowed every
> winter since as the two cities have gradually swapped positions.

The significance of this in terms of any argument at all is totally
obscure.

Cheers,

Bill