An oldie but goodie

I don't know how, but this op-ed piece in the O, from just before Covid, popped up on my screens over the weekend. The writer made perfect sense then, as he does now, but of course, the car haters at City Hall never listened.

For most people, the decision to bike vs drive is more about arriving at your destination dry, not sweating and not having to carry a bag. People also weigh factors including proximity, whether they have to pick up kids or ability to do physical exercise. They say people don’t ride buses or the Max because they’re not ubiquitous enough. But it’s more about privacy, anxiety, safety, reliability, or not knowing who they will sit next to. When local or state government asks for ever more tax money, these psychological nuances are conveniently ignored by the anti-car advocates. But no amount of funding will change these reasons, and they are all perfectly valid for wanting or needing a vehicle....

We can and will reduce emissions with electric and other non-petro based vehicles, and economic incentives for alternative forms of transportation that satisfy the previously discussed psychological nuances. We should focus efforts on incentives instead of spending billions of dollars to cripple the one mode of transportation the overwhelming majority use. It is economic incentives – not economic pain – that drive behavioral change at scale. 

There's still time to put down the hate and do the right thing by the majority of the population. But in a place like Portland City Hall, nothing succeeds like failure. Doubling down on stupid is always the first option.