In another thread about segways, I made the comment that Kaman made a mistake pitching the segway to the US first because the US is so car-centric and public transport poor.
Anyway, imagine you had to plan a hypothetical trip into a random place in the city centre that you might want to go to. What are you alternative modes of transport and what would they involve? Try and include as many as possible, even if they are blatantly impractical.
For me:
Car: By car, it takes about 15 minutes to drive with no traffic, about 30 minutes with, about 2 hours if theres a football game on since my route passes by Sydney’s main stadium. Once I’m in the city, it would take me at least 10 minutes to find a parking spot in a parking garage somewhere and probably another 10 minutes to get to where I’m going. Parking would cost between $7 and $15 AUD. Streetside parking is virtually non-existant.
By public transport: Luckily, the bus route runs fairly close to my house. It takes 10 minutes to walk to the bus stop, usually between 5 and 10 minutes waiting for the bus, then about 40 minutes to get into the city. It would take about 5 minutes to walk from where I’m dropped off to where I want to go. Bus fares are $1AUD each way.
Walking: I’ve only done this once when there was a bus strike but it would take approximately an hour to an hour and a half. Luckily, I was with a group of friends so it seemed much shorter.
By Bike: I’ve never done this but a friend tells me it would take about 40 - 45 minutes.
I don’t have a car, so it’s a choice between using public transport or walking. Generally I catch a bus, which takes about 10-12 minutes to get into the CBD. I can also take a train, but they’re so unreliable I don’t usually do so.
Or I can walk, which I do quite frequently. From my place into the CBD is about a 45 minute walk.
going from my house to city center, i would walk. about 20 minutes to 45 minutes depending on where in c.c. i’m going. home to work about 40 min. home to shop/food court 20 minutes.
there are 2 buses in my area that would get me there. 1 bus gets me to work 15 minutes quicker, the other about 10 minutes quicker.
i have seen 4 people using segways in the city so far. in the states big city boston , nyc, and philly would lend themselves to the segway. they are walking cities.
Let’s see…
In Auckland, NZ where I am now:
Walk: I do this every day - takes about 20min
Car:I don’t own a car, but it would take about 5min to drive into CBD, I suppose. And then I would have to find parking and pay for said parking, so I would guess it would take about 15min total and be ridiculously expensive for the marginal gain in time/convenience.
Bike: Would take about 10min, I guess. Would be a bit of a pain biking home as it is mostly uphill in this direction. I don’t much like biking anyway.
Bus: This would take about 10-15min total depending on how long I have to wait for a bus. It costs 50c. I do this when I’m late or feeling lazy.
In Glasgow, Scotland:
Identical to Auckland (except for the difference that I rarely go into CBD there, as I have no reason to since the university is not there).
In Gothenburg, Sweden:
Mostly the same as Auckland except here I take public transport much more due to it being much better than the poor attempt at a public transport system in Auckland. Or, if my little brother isn’t using it, I take his moped frequently. Easily the best way to get around a city (much faster than by car because you can cut past traffic at red lights or cut through parks (illegal, but who cares?)).
I wouldn’t buy a Segway in any of these places because they look really stupid. Otherwise, I guess they would be practical in any of the citys I live in. I guess the moped is somewhat similar to using a Segway, but faster and I can use it to travel furthur than I could use a Segway.
Walking–Halifax, at least on the peninsula, is a great walking city. It’s about a half hour from here to downtown on foot (around 40 minutes to my old place, which was a bit south of downtown).
Bus–Depending on which bus I take, 5-8 minute walk. I have the Go-Time* number for the one I usually take memorized, so I can call ahead and time it so that I don’t have to wait long. About a ten-fifteen minute trip. Unless it’s between midnight and 6 AM, then its…
Cab–Around $5-6 at night, probably ~$8 during the day. I don’t cab if I can help it though.
*When you call it’ll tell you how long until the next bus arrives at that stop
Bus: Not possible without first driving several miles to the nearest bus stop. (It’s a countywide system; unfortunately there are several suburbs, including mine, that are not in any sense far-flung but are in a different county.) But it’d be a cool trolley bus, at least!
Walk: Dangerous, but it could theoretically be done. It’d probably take at least a few hours.
Bike: This can be done almost entirely on bike paths, though the route is not direct. Maybe one hour.
Depends on which downtown. I live midway between Dallas and Fort Worth. Walking isn’t an option. I imagine it would take hours and there is no way it could be done. Car: about 20-30 minutes without traffic. There is a train and I live close to a train station. The walk isn’t far, but since there aren’t sidewalks for most of the way, it isn’t fun to do. Train also would take about 30 minutes once it arrives and I board.
—by car: 20 mins driving, 10 minutes to find parking, never done it myself because I don’t drive but I have been driven downtown by others
—by bus: 5 mins walk to bus stop, 30 mins drive downtown, I do this every working day
—by bike: never done it, but I’d estimate it would be a little less than an hour
—walking: at least two hours, longer to avoid dangerous high-traffic roads… not feasible
Walk or ride my bike 3/4 of a mile to the end of the bus line. There’s one bus per hour, 7 AM until 6 PM, then there are no buses at all. $1 fare. The trip takes 25 minutes or so.
By car: 10 minutes from driveway to downtown.
Walking downtown? Forget it! A couple of hours in the Florida summer? No way!
Riding my bike downtown? Forget it!
Besides which, there is nothing downtown. Downtown is what you pass through while going to some other place that has a business you need. Poor planning, if you ask me.
Our town has a Farmer’s Market downtown every Wednesday night during the summer months. We try to head down there every other week or so though last summer we were there nearly every week since we’d joined one of the local biking coalitions and were volunteering.
Our main transportation to that event is biking. The coalition offers free valet parking for bikes at the market, and other events around town (festivals, parades, movie nights, etc.) and downtown is about a 5 minute bike ride from our house.
Driving a car would take just about as long, and there is plenty of metered parking that is free after 6 PM on weekdays and all day Sunday, and a couple of garages that are about 50 cents an hour, and the mall parking garage (free.)
Riding the bus would take 10 minutes or so (assuming you arrive at the stop when the bus arrives, it’s every 30 minutes on a weekday and runs until a little after 8 PM), considering stops, and a bus stop is about 100 feet or less from our front door. A one way adult fare is $1.
Walking would take about 20 or 30 minutes.
Taking a taxi would take about 30-45 minutes, considering response time for putting a call in to a cab company to the cab arriving to pick you up is pretty rotten around here. And it would cost you about $10. Expensive.
Take a right, walk about a mile and half thru suburbia. Then you are there. Nice, Northville, Michigan. Nothing special, but nice. I like it like that. :wally
Take a ride on the ferry which runs every half hour from 5:00am until 10:00pm, then every hour until 2:00am, free to leave the island (coming home costs $3.40), 20 minutes;
3a) A commuter bus meets the 5:30am – 7:30am ferries. Direct shot into the city, $3.00, 45 minutes; or
3b) Take the CT112 bus to the Transit Center, then take the ST511 bus into the city, $1.75, 1.5 hours.
By car:
Drive up the hill to the end of the ferry line, and inch forward until loading, 5 minutes to 30 minutes+, depending upon time of day and week;
Get on the ferry (see schedule above), $7.50, 20 minutes;
Drive to the city, 1 hour.
IMHO, the Segway won’t take off until they put a seat on it. In any case, it’s not an option for me.
Car: 10-15 minutes of driving time, followed by 20-30 minutes in a fruitless search for a parking space that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, followed by 5 minutes to say The Hell With It and park in the same old overpriced garage as usual.
Bus: 5 minute walk to the local bus station, 20-25 minute bus ride.
Tram: 5 minute walk to the local tram station, 20-25 minute tram ride.
I like it like that. :wally