Ok this is not really technology related but I really don't have a rant post so I might as well as post it here.Having intermittently lived in both S Cal (12 years combined) and N Cal (10 years combined), I've always wondered how much S Cal traffic is so much sicker than N Cal. I wrote up a silly page that compares both locations in real time (see sample image to the right). LA is consistently redder and yellower, during every single rush hour. What the hell is going on with LA traffic? Having seen LA for the past 20 years or so, things seem to get worse and worse. You don't need to spend millions of research dollars on stupid data or graphics like this to tell anyone that things are worse. You just need to have been in LA for the past 20 years.
You know what? None of our politicians did anything in the past. Why do Angelinos tolerate this? Are residents simply idiotic or that the politicians are incompetent, or both? It is just SICKENING to see millions of Angelinos endure crap like this. Just look at it, it makes me want to puke.
Click on http://ereview.com/lasf.html to see a larger page
Something should balance out, right? More people would work from home or on non-standard schedules, I would expect. I don't understand why people will actually tolerate sitting in traffic which is moving more slowly than I can walk. If it's THAT bad I'll pull over and take a nap or read a book. And yet people commute in this every day? Why not bike, if traffic is moving more slowly than you can walk? Why not stay in the office and read/study for a few hours, rather then drive home after traffic has died down?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure people who can wait it out, are already waiting it out. I think it's a simple question of volume vs. capacity. LA population is ~3X of Bay Area so there just isn't enough capacity. That, and extremely highly zoned to residential and commercial so people must drive a lot more. That, and the wide spread of industries-- e.g. a tech company can be all the way in Woodland Hills or Orange County. So the spread makes people drive a lot farther than say, a tech concentrated hub such as the Silicon Valley where you don't need to drive far to get home & companies.
ReplyDeleteOverall, LA sprawling occurred without much city planning. Actually I don't even think anything was planned. It's a city founded by a bunch of crooks (legacy of the Chandler family, aka media monopoly in LA) that looked away from crime and corruption. LA is the end result of their legacy.
I love working somewhat local to where I live. It's about 20 minutes regardless of the day or the time I leave. However, I don't know if that's an option for a lot of people - it certainly would've been more cost-prohibitive to try and move closer to Google, but taking a job closer to home worked out. It would be interesting to see some data on locality of home/work based on work type (even at just a rough blue-collar vs white-collar level).
ReplyDeleteHey look, 210E is green.. until you hit Pasadena. What Gives Kevin?!?!! Also, just a FYI, "Sick" is slang for "great; COOL, AWESOME."
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