Summary of modes

[pacotelic]

So what does all that mean? To compare these modes side by side, consider what it would take to move America’s 140 million person workforce the average trip distance for each mode. 10 miles in traffic, 5 miles for transit, 1.3 miles walking and 3 miles biking. The cost to build those routes anew to carry all those people that short distance

Comments

[anonymous]

I imagine they're lumped in with auto traffic, but I am curious how motorcycles fit into this as far as both infrastructure and safety. Anecdote suggests they're less safe, take less real estate, and take less energy than cars, while they go on longer trips than bikes. I'm particularly interested, for personal reasons, in the safety comparisons between motorcycles and bicycles.

Of course, another thing I think about is the difficulty of using motorcycles and bicycles in snow and ice; aren't people essentially forced into the other options there?

Anyway, I've been following this with interest, thanks for posting.

[pacotelic]

I did not consider motorcycles separately from cars or SUVs because a lot of data on energy and space requirements were not available. Going into all the classes of traffic would have bogged me down as much as going into all the modes of transit. I wanted to be brief and high level with each of the sections, because the data was unreliable in places but I wanted to compare all the modes in as many ways as possible.

Much of my data was from FARS and BTS Transtats. Amazing Data there.

Snow and ice difficulty is as extreme a case as parking lots designed for the day before Christmas. Of course its true on those rare days, but why dpo we have to deal with all that wasted infrastructure the rest of the year. It is inelegant.

[smws]

Sorry, my comment up there, forgot to log in. I really appreciate having this analysis all in one place, so thanks. I also understand motorcycles not being separable data-wise.

I guess snow/ice is an edge case, I just wondered. As a cyclist I've never lived anywhere it was an issue; in the coastal NW I had good rain gear but some cyclists I knew just went with cars or public transit in heavy rain.

[pacotelic]

Which is fine by me. I'd like to build a case for a diverse transportation system, not a different monomania. The next part of the argument would be about getting doors closer to transit, not to supplant traffic, but to outcompete it.