Quality vs. Time in Transportation

Alex Marshall points out the fallacy of creating transportation policy based solely on figures like miles traveled per hour, average commuting times, and cost per passenger. Quality of the time spent commuting is rarely taken into account.

1 minute read

September 3, 2009, 11:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur

Marshall compares the time/quality differences in his commute options: drive, subway, bike or walk.

"Travel between cities offers qualitative differences as well. Plane travel seems to have become a series of lines that one waits in, broken up by small quantities of actually flying. Train travel, if available and good, can offer unbroken hours for sustained concentration. Driving for hours in a car between cities, with or without company, can be good or bad depending on temperament, one's physical size and the quality of one's stereo."

FULL STORY: Traveling at Good Speed

Monday, August 31, 2009 in Governing Magazine

Transportation United States Commuting

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