Re: New form of rail transportation

[Vaughan Williams <ender2000@my-deja.com>]

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

Feel free to subject it to critical analysis.

The point Tony is making is that the fact that it snows in Toronto
doesn't explain why people there are prepared to use buses while people
here are not. Their train system may be underground (which might give
it an edge) but it isn't relevant to buses.

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

Yes, but the fact that there is snow doesn't explain why they do it.
Note the words "if anything".

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

Correct, but irrelevant to the point under discussion.

> 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"

Fine, but how does this explain why people there use buses when people
in Melbourne don't? It was you that asserted that snow was the reason.

> > Cities like Detroit
>
> In which public transit is just about non existent.

Yes, thats why nobody uses it. Surprise!

The fact that it snows is irrelevant. When public transport is good
enough people will use it. Toronto's cold climate does not explain why
people use it, the high quality of service does.

> > have climates that are similar to or colder than Toronto's.
>
> Which is completely irrelevant

Its you that argued Toronto's cold climate was the reason people use
public transport there.

> > 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.

It suggests snow isn't the reason Toronto outperforms Melbourne,
because 50 years ago the reverse was the case.

Vaughan


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