Travels With Tonoose

The hue and cry to stop adding to the greenhouse gases puts a lot of emphasis on using public transportation instead of being the lone passenger in a fossil-burner.

In a perfect world, you could be more like George Jetson than Fred Flintstone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jetsons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Flintstone

Jetson, you may recall traveled in tubes and a flying car. Flintstone, on the other hand, used foot propulsion and heel stopping.

The stuff of science fiction from a hundred years ago has nearly been realized. Okay, you don’t see people lined up for Personal Jet-Packs, but when they get the landing part fixed, perhaps you will find one under your Christmas tree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_pack

At the end of Back To The Future, Doc arrives at Marty’s house and needs to refuel the DeLorean with trash. So, maybe there is hope for transportation in the future.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMC-12  (delorean)

But the reality is that the transportation infrastructure, the roads, rails, bridges and tunnels, were all set up as an afterthought. Most of America is not set up like EPCOT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epcot

Our transportation system has been set up like the sidewalk on a college campus. First leave the entire lawn green and eventually put sidewalks where the students trample the grass.

If it were otherwise, my 12-mile commute from northeastern Essex County to the Hudson River in Jersey City would take a lot less than an hour.  

Driving the route, without traffic, was often less than 40 minutes. But you add hundreds of dollars to park and hundreds of dollars for fuel and the 40 more minutes a day seems a bargain.

-- Happy Trails.