No Light Rail in Vancouver!
The Pleasures of Public Transit
Here are some heartwarming examples of how public transit helps build a sense of
community as compared with those soul-
A family of tourists got on a Portland light-
The shouter moved closer to them, pulled a collapsible rifle out of a duffle bag and quickly assembled it while muttering something about “not appreciating” the fact that another passenger had told him he shouldn’t bring a gun on board. Everyone held their breath, but nothing more happened until the next stop, when a uniformed officer escorted the man off the train.
Those tourists would have been even more excited about their visit to Portland if they had been on a bus the day before when someone told the driver he had a bomb in his backpack. The bus was evacuated and Southeast 82nd Avenue — one of Portland’s major arterials — was shut down for an hour.
Or maybe those tourists happened to take a ride to Gresham the following day, where
they might have witnessed someone shot in the head next to the light-
Thanks to bojack.org for alerting me to these incidents. One of bojack’s commenters says he is a retired police officer from Gresham and advises, “If you ride the MAX east of Parkrose between 6 p.m and 4:30 a.m, you’re pretty much taking your life in your hands. I would walk first.” That pretty much agrees with what I have heard other people say about Portland’s supposedly safe light rail.
Not everyone on or near a public transit vehicle is going to threaten you with bombs or guns. But you are much more likely to meet someone like that on the buses or rails than in your private automobile.
Trackback • Posted in News commentary, Transportation
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Reprinted from The Antiplanner