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Randito Snarky Member
Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 9512 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellevue at the moment. |
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Randito
Snarky Member
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Fri Oct 15, 2021 9:48 am
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neek wrote: | Maybe self-driving personal autos will be the thing |
The capacity of individual vehicles self driving or not is tiny compared to rail. It's not a effective solution for urban transportation. Time and time again cities throughout the world have shown that building additional freeway capacity doesn't reduce congestion and commute times.
Rail systems have so much more capacity-- when I was living in Manhattan and using the subway to take my grandkids to school one stop away I was impressed watching express A trains roll past our local stop , ten cars per train, packed full ~1000 people rolling by at 35 mph.
No way a swarm of a 1000 self driving cars every ten minutes added to I-5 is going to match the average speed of 17+mph of the subway.
zimmertr
zimmertr
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neek Member
Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 2337 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle, WA |
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neek
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Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:07 am
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I happen to agree (note also how ride-hail services have made traffic worse), but not everyone does. When computers manage the routing, you can supposedly do away with traffic lights, accidents, gridlock, stop & go behavior, all sorts of things. (This is just for the sake of argument - you know from my comments last year how I really feel about these techno-utopias.) Then things start looking like a real network, and the lane-add paradox goes away. Obviously there are still capacity limits, but things become much more predictable. Again, not how I see it all playing out, but when someone claims to know what the world will look like in 100 years, I have to chuckle a little.
If they added a train column, they'd need a lot more people
Opus, Cyclopath, zimmertr
Opus, Cyclopath, zimmertr
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Randito Snarky Member
Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 9512 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellevue at the moment. |
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Randito
Snarky Member
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Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:29 am
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zimmertr TJ Zimmerman
Joined: 24 Jun 2018 Posts: 1224 | TRs | Pics Location: Issaquah |
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zimmertr
TJ Zimmerman
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Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:31 am
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I'm eager for the lightrail to Issaquah to open so I can move back to the East Side. When my partner and I first moved here from Michigan we landed in Klahanie and really enjoyed it. But she was working in Queen Anne at the time so her commute as awful. So we moved to the city.
Magnolia is nice and I really love Discovery Park but I wish I had Tiger in my backyard instead.
I think it's unlikely that any future short of a virtual singularity will antiquate train commuting. It's just too efficient and could be made entirely free for citizens. Self driving autos are incredible for obvious reasons, but I think they really shine for long distance driving. At least that's my perspective with a level 2 autonomous vehicle.
I'll vote yes on anything train. Low carbon impact. High speed. Distraction-free. Extremely safe. Highly efficient. Low maintenance. Easily automatable.
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altasnob Member
Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 1406 | TRs | Pics Location: Tacoma |
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altasnob
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Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:53 am
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The Puget Sound Regional Council forecasts 1.8 million additional people to move to the Seattle area by 2050, for a total regional population of 6 million people. To make this work, we have to convince the majority of people to give up their cars, and we have to convince the majority of people to live in dense, car-free neighborhoods next to transit centers.
zimmertr
zimmertr
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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7726 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
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Fri Oct 15, 2021 10:59 am
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More people moving here is all it will take to convince people to give up their cars. Gridlock and parking already make car ownership downright painful in many places. People use cars because they're a net benefit, as that stops being true people start looking seriously for alternatives.
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zimmertr TJ Zimmerman
Joined: 24 Jun 2018 Posts: 1224 | TRs | Pics Location: Issaquah |
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zimmertr
TJ Zimmerman
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Fri Oct 15, 2021 11:18 am
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Software has changed this city and that's not going away. It has and will continue to permeate every facet of our world. Seattle is unique when compared to other tech hubs like SF and Austin due to it's proximity to beauty. The area will continue to grow exponentially and that will not mesh with a city zoning 70% of itself for single family homes. It only makes sense for adjacent neighborhoods like Queen Anne, Magnolia, Ballard, and Fremont to get upzoned and become more dense. Interbay should have a huge zoning overhaul towards housing as well.
I've spent a lot of time reconciling with myself about this this year. I earn more than most Americans as a software engineer and I can't afford a house in this city. No one should have to pay a $4,500/month mortgage for 30 years. That is not okay. I understand that people are incentivized to preserve their neighborhoods. And many of them look at their million dollar houses as a significant portion of their retirement plan. I understand how frustrating it must be to be a fourth generation Seattlite whose grandparents used to live in Ballard when it was its own city. But in this case, it should be important to remember what Spock once said:
Quote: | Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. |
Millions of Americans like myself grew up rural and are now flocking to cities. At a rate never before seen in American history. For many the appeal of the Nuclear Family no longer drives them. They instead want to live in areas rich with amenities and culture. Condo ownership should become the norm instead for these places.
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ale_capone Member
Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 720 | TRs | Pics
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But do they have good coffee and music?
Honestly, as a generation x'r, I'd never really noticed seattle until singles. One of my favorite movie soundtracks. I only drank black drip coffee before this as well.
I checked. It would take me 3:19 minutes one way to firsthill where I'm working. First hill has built on 90% of their street level lots over the past 6 years. Mostly for medical and retirement housing. My stock truck needs 6'8" and there is only one garage I fit in.
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treeswarper Alleged Sockpuppet!
Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 11276 | TRs | Pics Location: Don't move here |
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treeswarper
Alleged Sockpuppet!
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Sun Oct 17, 2021 7:44 am
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Had an adventure in a parking garage. Drove in and up the ramps in my work truck with the antennas thwanging all the way off the roof and beams. Then had to have a spotter get out to squeeze into a compact space, which was the only one open. I made it work. Had to have a spotter to work back out of that spot too. Then THWANG on the way back down.
A logger told me about breaking unprotected lightbulbs in a low slung parking garage in his dad's work truck. He suspected his dad might have been aiming the antennas at the lights due to being in a bad frame of mind after driving into the city.
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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FiveNines Member
Joined: 01 Oct 2010 Posts: 526 | TRs | Pics
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Self driving car solves OP parking problems at the trains station.
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Kim Brown Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 6899 | TRs | Pics
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Went to a concert downtown Saturday night - I was worried about Northgate parking because of the Husky game, and Ann Wilson performing at the Neptune, so arrived a little early, thinking I would have trouble finding a spot.
While it looked full, on my first pass, I found a great spot in the new-ish garage right next to the train station, almost as good as what I get during the work week; and from what I could see, the surrounding garages had plenty of empty spaces on their rooftops.
If a Husky game and 2 great shows didn’t fill it up, I can’t imagine what was going on at 10:00 on a weekday when our Original Poster needed a spot!
While I long ago stopped driving downtown in favor of the bus, weekday, weekend, evenings - the train is even slicker. It’s 2 blocks to the Moore, no blocks to Benaroya Hall, a few to the 5th Avenue. Getting home from Seattle Center after 9 PM when the monorail shuts for the night will still be an issue, but I’ll figure something out. Walking through downtown at night isn’t nearly as fun as it used to be.
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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Randito Snarky Member
Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 9512 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellevue at the moment. |
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Randito
Snarky Member
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Tue Oct 19, 2021 11:28 am
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FWIW: I used the 550 from the Mercer Island Park and Ride to get to downtown this morning. @ 9:45 in the morning the p&r lot was only 2/3 full. The bus itself was only 1/4 full.
Bus fare to/from downtown way cheaper than a downtown parking garage. On street parking in downtown is very hard to find, so not an option I wanted to pursue.
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Sculpin Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2015 Posts: 1383 | TRs | Pics
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Sculpin
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Tue Oct 19, 2021 12:24 pm
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Kim Brown wrote: | I can’t imagine what was going on at 10:00 on a weekday when our Original Poster needed a spot! |
Um...people commuting downtown to their jobs?
Kim Brown wrote: | from what I could see, the surrounding garages had plenty of empty spaces on their rooftops. |
Yeah, those are the $15 for 2-4 hours spaces discussed upthread.
I'm not surprised you found a spot on a Saturday.
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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Kim Brown Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 6899 | TRs | Pics
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A Saturday with Husky game commuters and concert goers, as discussed above which numbers could easily have outnumbered weekly commuters.
What it boils down to is this: Sometimes you get skunked on parking, and sometimes you don't. It's nothing to argue about, at least as far as I'm concerned. I just can't figure out why on a Tuesday at 10:00 it was so full. The workforce isn't at capacity yet.
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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BigBrunyon Member
Joined: 19 Mar 2015 Posts: 1456 | TRs | Pics Location: the fitness gyms!! |
Ah, just keep drivin'. Behind those wheels is where the real deal's at...it's more of an open road seat. A highwayman ain't parkin. He continues to drive.
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