Thursday, November 18, 2010

Alternative Transportation: It's All About Your Wallet

Perhaps, like me, you expected a conversation about alternative transportation to focus on why we should all reduce our carbon footprints and improve our health by walking and biking more?  While Paul Kobulnicky, chair of YSU’s Alternative Transportation Advisory Committee acknowledges that there are environmental and health concerns, he’s a practical guy.  As he makes clear in our conversation, the number one reason to consider alternative transportation is cost.  Convenience also matters, but it’s the wallet that provides the real motivation. 

And when people are ready to change their habits, what they need most is information.  If you want to cut your costs, or if looking for a parking space is taking up too much of your time, check out the committee’s website. You’ll find a bike map suggesting the best routes for two-wheel transportation around town, as well as ideas about how YSU could make it easier for people to choose alternatives. 

1 comment:

pjkobulnicky said...

My apologies for continuing a mis-attribution. Here from the Thacher entry from Wikipedia:

"A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure.

* Attributed to her in Commons debates, 2003-07-02, column 407 and Commons debates, 2004-06-15 column 697. According to a letter to the Daily Telegraph by Alistair Cooke on 2 November 2006, this sentiment originated with Loelia Ponsonby, one of the wives of 2nd Duke of Westminster who said "Anybody seen in a bus over the age of 30 has been a failure in life". In a letter published the next day, also in the Daily Telegraph, Hugo Vickers claims Loelia Ponsonby admitted to him that she had borrowed it from Brian Howard. There is no solid evidence that Margaret Thatcher ever quoted this statement with approval, or indeed shared the sentiment."

Paul K