Want to change the world? Make gas $10 a gallon.
He's got a point. Not a terribly well developed argument, mostly because he cuts too many people a break. But, using the extra money to subsidize public transit and information technology would make quite a difference.
I'm not sure that we need more freeways these days. Or subways, or light rail. As poor as the Los Angeles public transportation system is, I believe the future is not about moving people any more. It will be about moving information. If a majority of the office/cubicle workers could work from home, there wouldn't be a need to expand the freeways. Sure, many workers would still need to be on the road - gardeners, plumbers, electricians, construction workers. Goods would still need hauling. But if we could take 50% of the drivers off the road, there'd be plenty of room for the rest. In addition, we'd be giving our work force an hour to two hours a day back.
Reduce pollution, gas consumption, eliminate the need for additional transportation infrastructure, and ease stress all in one fell swoop. Is it really possible? Will our transportation authorities even think of it? Or is their "vision" all concentrated on adding more ways for more cars and people to move about?
What if we changed our transportation focus to move less people? By giving them an incentive to stay home, making gas prohibitively expensive and providing access to super-broadband technologies, I believe it could happen. Each worker, sitting at home, with a webcam could access the other workers in a second, just like they do now. Instead of walking over to the next cubicle, you just call them up on the cam. Supervisors can still supervise, they still have "face time." Might be a win-win for us all.
He's got a point. Not a terribly well developed argument, mostly because he cuts too many people a break. But, using the extra money to subsidize public transit and information technology would make quite a difference.
I'm not sure that we need more freeways these days. Or subways, or light rail. As poor as the Los Angeles public transportation system is, I believe the future is not about moving people any more. It will be about moving information. If a majority of the office/cubicle workers could work from home, there wouldn't be a need to expand the freeways. Sure, many workers would still need to be on the road - gardeners, plumbers, electricians, construction workers. Goods would still need hauling. But if we could take 50% of the drivers off the road, there'd be plenty of room for the rest. In addition, we'd be giving our work force an hour to two hours a day back.
Reduce pollution, gas consumption, eliminate the need for additional transportation infrastructure, and ease stress all in one fell swoop. Is it really possible? Will our transportation authorities even think of it? Or is their "vision" all concentrated on adding more ways for more cars and people to move about?
What if we changed our transportation focus to move less people? By giving them an incentive to stay home, making gas prohibitively expensive and providing access to super-broadband technologies, I believe it could happen. Each worker, sitting at home, with a webcam could access the other workers in a second, just like they do now. Instead of walking over to the next cubicle, you just call them up on the cam. Supervisors can still supervise, they still have "face time." Might be a win-win for us all.
posted by Lou Schwing at 10:11 AM
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