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Quality of life down for most drivers, maybe. But by focusing on transit, moving around and in/out of the city becomes a lot easier for more people than it beco

Quality of life down for most drivers, maybe. But by focusing on transit, moving around and in/out of the city becomes a lot easier for more people than it becomes worse for, so I'd say overall quality of life goes way up. Best of luck to you in your new city :)

arcticfox 9y ago
I just experimented on Google Maps with an arbitrary route: random place near Microsoft campus to a random nice park in Seattle: 1hr30 minutes. Car: 23 minutes. Even during the awful 520 rush hour, it's still ~15-30min faster. > in/out of the city becomes a lot easier for more people than it becomes worse for Pretty hard to imagine losing 2hrs on a round-trip into the city is a benefit for anyone that can't afford to live in the city proper.
- news_to_me 9y ago
  Fair enough, but I take measurements like these as a need to further improve transit. For example, the light rail reaching Redmond should help that particular route a lot. In general, it doesn't make sense to invest in making it easier for cars as the population grows — it's not as sustainable as improving transit, since public transit is a far more efficient way to transport people.
  - drak0n1c 9y ago
    That estimation may change in the coming decades. Self driving cars would allow for pooling and far greater car throughput on existing roads (no human latency/error, synchronized top speeds)
    - jschwartzi 9y ago
      Even if self-driving cars were perfect and every manufacturer came out with one tomorrow, it would still be 20 or 30 years before the existing cars on the road were all replaced. To say nothing of the decades of R&D that will be required starting now in order to get us to that point. I think it's naive to suggest this as an alternative when we could have working mass transit systems using proven equipment within a decade. Why would we wait for what might come when we could have something better today?
- stephengillie 9y ago
  .
  - jboles 9y ago
    Nah, it's literally one express freeway bus. That's what's so great about Seattle public transit.
  - mikestew 9y ago
    Hmm? 545 from Overlake or the Redmond Transit Center? I’m not sure what would necessitate a stop in Bellevue.
- loeg 9y ago
  You've managed to choose an arbitrary route that is an extremely uncommon commute and one of the worst possible commutes into the city. You're also neglecting time to find parking and the cost to park (and as long as we're mentioning costs, gas, insurance, and wear and tear on the car).

arcticfox 9y ago

I just experimented on Google Maps with an arbitrary route: random place near Microsoft campus to a random nice park in Seattle: 1hr30 minutes. Car: 23 minutes. Even during the awful 520 rush hour, it's still ~15-30min faster. > in/out of the city becomes a lot easier for more people than it becomes worse for Pretty hard to imagine losing 2hrs on a round-trip into the city is a benefit for anyone that can't afford to live in the city proper.

news_to_me 9y ago
Fair enough, but I take measurements like these as a need to further improve transit. For example, the light rail reaching Redmond should help that particular route a lot. In general, it doesn't make sense to invest in making it easier for cars as the population grows — it's not as sustainable as improving transit, since public transit is a far more efficient way to transport people.
- drak0n1c 9y ago
  That estimation may change in the coming decades. Self driving cars would allow for pooling and far greater car throughput on existing roads (no human latency/error, synchronized top speeds)
  - jschwartzi 9y ago
    Even if self-driving cars were perfect and every manufacturer came out with one tomorrow, it would still be 20 or 30 years before the existing cars on the road were all replaced. To say nothing of the decades of R&D that will be required starting now in order to get us to that point. I think it's naive to suggest this as an alternative when we could have working mass transit systems using proven equipment within a decade. Why would we wait for what might come when we could have something better today?
stephengillie 9y ago
.
- jboles 9y ago
  Nah, it's literally one express freeway bus. That's what's so great about Seattle public transit.
- mikestew 9y ago
  Hmm? 545 from Overlake or the Redmond Transit Center? I’m not sure what would necessitate a stop in Bellevue.
loeg 9y ago
You've managed to choose an arbitrary route that is an extremely uncommon commute and one of the worst possible commutes into the city. You're also neglecting time to find parking and the cost to park (and as long as we're mentioning costs, gas, insurance, and wear and tear on the car).