04-03-2021, 08:40 PM
(04-02-2021, 09:57 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: But the key I see is that we can enable that same mobility at a far far lower cost. This is what people fear though, they are so unimaginative that they cannot conceive of having the same mobility without driving.
No imagination is needed to understand that mobility is not, and never will be, the same without driving. Not even close. I'll give you 3 personal examples:
1) On Sunday I take my mother to her covid-19 shot, finally. She herself is 80, and can't do a lot of walking. Either way, her vaccination will be at The Boardwalk in Waterloo. Problem 1 - we have no local Sunday service in the area, it was cancelled to help pay for the Ion. Problem 2, even if we could get transit (such as taken a later vaccination date), it would be 2 transfers (3 busses), 20 minutes of walking, about about 4 hours of bus travel time. With a car, it's 12 minutes there and 12 minutes back. At the very least, we're saving 4 hours. And likely she couldn't do all the required walking anyway.
2) Say my buddy in Cambridge invites me over to his place after work, in order to go over to a close restaurant from his place. In this case, I can only do this when I have a day shift: Done work at 4:00 -- quickest method of transit gets me home by 4:45. I quickly shower and I am ready to leave by 5. Quickest route to his place gets me there at 7:21. Now, quickest route to the restaurant gets us there at 8:30. Stay for a couple hours, and head back to my place, and I arrive home at 12:20. With a car, I get home a 4:08, leave my place by 4:25, at his place by 4:45, at restaurant by 4:55, leave after two hours, drive him back to his place, 7:05, drive back home, 7:25. That's a 5 hour difference. (For those scenarios, I used the GRT trip planner).
3) Invited to a relatives or friends that are out of town. It's not happening without a car.
Now, if you have suggestions how one can do those above things without a car, I'll listen. But the only thing I can imagine is using a driverless car, and I think that would get expensive quick once it is available.
Cars give a quality of life and options and flexibility and time. Just like in the old times where a horse and buggy would do the same. Hell, with the above cases, a horse and buggy would be quicker every time.
Back to this discussion: do I think we need to widen the road RIGHT NOW? Not really. Between Highway 8 and Hespeler was fine. Between Hespeler and Townline? Probably not. But it's part of their master plan and has been on the books for a long time.