Thoughts on a Train

Some thoughts on Transit-Oriented-Development along the Vermonter.

Where is it? For the most part it's all still there, just where we left it. This part of Vermont has essentially not grown at all for the last 80 years. Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, Claremont, White River Junction, Randolph . . . these are all old mill towns that are still laid out to be oriented toward the railroad.

Another thought: Transit-Oriented Development is a concept usually applied to proximity to transit for commuting. But in this part of the state, there really isn't that much commuting. You need an employment center, which doesn't exist, at least not with enough numbers to spawn suburbs.

Burlington is another story. IBM is the largest employer in the state and has rail lines going right to it from three directions. It's a natural for commuter trains, since shift changes happen at one time, twice a day.

Christopher Parker
Executive Director, Vermont Rail Advocacy Network
www.railvermont.org

I am part of the first world economy in South Africa where the bulk of the population lives in the third world part of our economy and aspires to also live in the first world economy.

First world economies are founded upon the profligate exploitation of resources both human and evironmental, and it is done without a care in the world so to speak. Unfortunately the money produced through this exploitation has no colour, that is to say it carries no evidence of how it was produced. Thus the possessors of it can happily flaunt it on their balance sheets as positive income even though it might have come from destroying our planetary home. In first world economies money is all that really counts so if such an income stream also generates monetary profits then tnere is applause all around especially from the shareholders and at national level it is seen as adding to the gross domestic product.

To any one who has a longterm view the above situation is beyond crazy. Our whole way of relating to one and other and to the rest of creation has got to undergo a fundamental change, a revolution in attitude, where we stop our expliotative approach to the rest of creation and replace it with a fundamentally cooperative approach both as individuals and as societies. Without this shift we are destined to join nature's other 'failed life form' experiments.

Speaking of dazzling city lights. . . thousands of otherwise quiet suburban communities across America become Times Square during the holiday season. They are so bedazzling we form caravans and follow maps to the twinkling glowing hot spots all over town. That's a lot of energy we use. It's harsh and Scrooge-ish to call it wasted energy. It's part of the celebration. Yet I'm sure we could decide to experience the same joy with a fraction of the wattage and not motor so far in a caravan to do it.

Bob, I agree with you completely. We see it here in the deep South, as well, except that we're not lucky enough to have any mass transit. Because we live rurally (necessitating our use of more than our fair share of fuel just to get to work and back each week, making it difficult to reduce) and because the South is so poor, we don't even have a Grayhound Bus between cities anymore much less any sort of train system. I guess what bothers me so much about it all is that so many people are truly oblivious to it all. They really do not have a clue as to what is happening and it will all be such a shock to them when things get really tough.

My husband and I are trying very hard to "green" our lives and he is trying to make his students more aware at the University where he teaches but it doesn't make up for our fuel use even though we have had a Honda Civic Hybrid since 2004. (We wanted a Prius but at that time, the closest we would have been able to get one was some place in Florida.)

Living in Oil Country, there is little incentive to try to clean up our act. True, there are a few of us, but we need a massive national education project aimed at adults, teaching the necessity to recycle those old cars that are out in the middle of the back 40 with a young tree growing up through it, and the old water heater that is lying in a ditch along the country road, etc.

I agree with you Bob, about wasted opportunities near the rail lines and wasted electricity flaunted in Times Square. I've often asked myself why more people don't use mass transit, and you have answered a few of those questions. Rail lines in metropolis areas often run alongside dilapidated manufacturing plants, and abandoned businesses (a sad testament to our economy). Additionally, transportation once people disembark from the train is often not thought about.

I have visions of a mag lev rail in my head, with easy pedestrian access. It would be great to have homes and businesses nearby, so people could easily walk home from the train. I'd also love to see small vehicles that people could buy or lease at rail stations, or better yet, carried on the train themselves. Then people may be more likely to use the train, drive up on it and ride (like the ferries in Seattle).

You can find our more of our ideas by visiting http://www.coolrock.com or check out our political ideas at http://www.americasthirdparty.com