Bus Rapid Transit

Metrolinx has taken immediate steps to address our congestion and environmental problems. Called “Quick Wins” an early win was the approval of $57.6 million to cover the capital costs of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service along the Dundas Corridor (Highway #5) from Hamilton to Mississauga.

"This could be really good news, especially IF it is a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and not just a bt... bus transit. The BRTs have dedicated lanes so that they can actually be “rapid” and it would be a fantastic line, very well used. With the BRT people would go much faster than in a car and then there would be a real incentive to use it. People could link to it either through “feeder buses” or even walking or bicycling. When I was working for the City of Mississauga, it would have taken me 1:25 minutes each way using Oakville and Mississauga’s “transit systems” as opposed to 25 minutes by car; it would not make much sense to spend 2 additional hours per day of quality time on the bus, the equivalent of 15 working weeks per year!

People need the environmental incentives, but the minimum system has to be good enough to make sense."
-Gil Penalosa, Executive Director of Walk and Bike for Life

This is really about making more room for cars

Subject: Let's all agree to the obvious: This is really about making more room for cars.
DR. GRIDLOCK
Road plan isn't about carpools or buses, it's just making room for more cars

JEFF GRAY jgray@globeandmail.com Globe and Mail Mar. 10/08

Sixteenth Avenue, as I remember it, was in the late 1980s a charming two-lane county road, with mostly farmland - and real live cows - on one side, and on the other, the rapidly expanding world of two-car garages and front lawns, where my family lived.

While at least one of those farms is still there, 16th is now a wide-feeling four lanes - an ample buffer zone graces its middle in stretches - and a busy commuter artery, funnelling traffic to Highway 404.

It is lined mostly with the backyards of houses that are hidden away in twisty-street subdivisions, and passes parking lots, plazas and gas stations. It is sprawl in a nutshell:

Great for cars, if you aren't expecting too many of them and don't mind mild ugliness, and lousy for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit.

Now, 16th Avenue is on a list of a staggering number of York Region's main roads that regional chairman Bill Fisch wants to widen, in this case, making my onetime sleepy country road six or seven lanes across.

Mr. Fisch says the plan is about creating high-occupancy vehicle lanes for carpoolers and buses. But let's not kid ourselves. Public transit up here is still a fringe affair, despite recent advances thanks to the region's shiny, new Viva bus system. And any HOV lanes along these roads are either going to be unenforceable or only meant to be enforced in rush hours.

Let's all agree to the obvious: This is really about making more room for cars.

Armed with his HOV-Iane fig leaf, Mr. Fisch even recently scolded Toronto Mayor David Miller for refusing to match York Region's road-widenings on Toronto's roads south of Steeles Avenue.

Mr. Miller and Toronto's traffic planners, however, have concluded that widening roads is a short-term fix, and so is no fix at all. In just a few years sometimes mere months - the new lanes simply clog with more cars.

Even York Regionites, mostly a car-loving people, are rising up against the widening plans. The resistance has admittedly been driven by people who live along 16th Avenue and are not keen to have what will amount to a highway right next to their back-yards. A petition has been circulating, crowds have been packing political meetings, and Markham town council voted recently to ask York Region to consider other options.

"It seems like it's time to draw a line in the sand with regard to urban sprawl," said local resident Peter Miasek, a semi-retired environmental adviser to Imperial Oil, who has been spearheading efforts to stop the widening.

He acknowledges that for an hour in the morning, traffic on 16th Avenue is quite busy, and that it maybe takes five more minutes than it once did to zip across. But four-lane main arteries, with better public transit in the mix, seem to serve big, busy Toronto well, he observes: "We know that four-lane roads plus transit works, because south of Steeles, that's pretty much all you've got down there."

Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said the town has asked York Region to look at whether the various planned future improvements to public transit the Yonge subway extension, improved GO service - will take the pressure off the need to widen roads as the area continues its massive population growth. But in an interview, he seemed unwilling to go to the barricades to fight a wider 16th Avenue: "At the end of the day, though, we do need to solve the traffic problem."

York Region has referred Markham's request to its transportation department for further study.

Stephen Collins, who manages the roads branch of York Region's engineering transportation services department, provided a chart that shows that if current trends continue, much of 16th would be at or above capacity by 2021.

He said the region's strategy, which used to call for nothing ,but road widenings, has matured into a plan to create a "transit priority network," with wider roads of HOV transit lanes to feed local bus passengers to its Viva bus rapid transit system.

Still, this is York Region. Many long-standing residents moved there years ago for the "open spaces," Mr. Collins says, and they are not going to give up their car keys.

"They are car users and they will always be car users, and despite our best efforts to encourage them to use transit, they never will. So we need to recognize that we have those people in our community, and we need to provide services for them."

Maybe there is no alternative.

Maybe there are so many cars, and so many malls. and so many low-rise office complexes dotting Markham and Richmond Hill that there is no use even bothering to fight against a wider 16th Avenue. Or maybe this considerable handicap means York Region needs to adopt a much more radical approach to transportation, well outside of its comfortable four-wheeled box.

Dr. Gridlock appears Mondays.

They are car users and they will always be car users, and despite our best efforts to encourage them to use transit, they never will.

Stephen Collins

Congestion Pricing Deal Struck in NYC

For immediate release: Thursday July 19, 2007

For more information: Neysa Pranger at (917) 532-0567

NEWS RELEASE

Hallelujah! Transit Riders Rejoice!

Straphangers Campaign Applauds Legislature on Congestion Pricing Agreement

Cleaner Air, Gridlock Relief Among Benefits

The Straphangers Campaign congratulates the state Legislature for authorizing New York City to design and implement a congestion pricing system for New York City.

This is truly an historic moment for New York. Mayor Bloomberg deserves praise for envisioning a bold initiative and State Senate Majority Leader Bruno, Speaker Silver and Governor Spitzer deserve praise for doing what’s right for the future of New York.

Congestion pricing is a forward-thinking solution to local and global problems whose time has come. From soaring asthma rates, to snarled traffic, to global warming, congestion pricing will help New York lead in addressing all these issues.

There are many compelling reasons to act now. Manhattan is drowning in traffic, New York City suffers from twice the national rate of asthma and we are desperate for new funds to repair and expand our vital subway, bus and commuter rail network. Gridlock is bad for the region's economy, whether measured in lost jobs, reduced business income or unreliable shipping.

We hope New York City is still eligible to receive up to $500 million in federal funds. These funds are desperately needed for immediate transit enhancements to 22 outlying city neighborhoods with inadequate transit options, as well as for technology to set up a congestion pricing pilot program.

There will be many winners with congestion pricing – kids suffering from asthma, drivers stuck in traffic – and transit riders and commuters should rejoice outright. Congestion pricing revenues will help keep fares down and fund $30 billion in vital long-term transit repairs and expansion—which will mean faster, safer commutes, repaired stations and new bus routes. Perhaps at long last, the Second Avenue Subway will shed its moniker as “the greatest project New York could never build.”

In reviewing congestion pricing options, we hope the Commission the Legislature will establish to make congestion pricing implementation recommendations considers the thoughtful concerns we have heard from legislators, including: the wisdom of creating a new SMART authority; safeguards to ensure that the funds generated would all be spent on transit; ways the MTA could pay for quickly added service; and the potential for neighborhoods bordering the congestion zone to become parking lots.

We believe these issues can be fairly resolved.

http://www.straphangers.org

New Mobility Model

What's the difference between the old mobility model and the one that is quietly taking its place? Well, the one that is winding down, often with considerable pain, is the hugely costly "all car/no choice" system which has dominated public policy and private practice for more than half a century in most cities around the world. The big problem with the old system is similar to that of any kind of dominant monoculture: it simply lacks the variety and flexibility, and hence the resilience and adaptability, needed to ensure long-term survival in a changing world.

What is striking about this is that the main driver for this new mobility model lies not in fears of environmental catastrophe or oil shut-down, and not even in our collective good sense or ethics --but rather in the fact that enough successful new practices and models are starting to show results that we now, finally, start to have real choices. The climate issues give us a global frame and strong sense of urgency; the New Mobility Agenda tell us how to get the job done.

[Reinventing Transport in Cities]

Old Mobility model in Los Angeles:

A Call For Better Transportation in Vaughan

The City of Vaughan is a great place to live, work, and play. However, it seems to me that city planners and politicians continue to indirectly encourage people to drive their cars more. If you drive on Major Mackenzie between Keele Street and Bathurst Street, there are sprawling, low-density subdivisions under construction as far as the eye can see. How will public transit effectively serve these communities? Buses will continue to be too slow, infrequent, and inconvenient to attract people away from their cars.

Vaughan is an unfriendly place for those who manoeuvre its streets with a bike or two feet. When cycling in downtown Maple, one has to either risk their life on Major MacKenzie Drive or break the law by riding on the sidewalk. Canadian motorists make an average of 2,000 trips each year that are less than three kilometres, trips that can easily be made by bike. York Region Cycling and Pedestrian Master Plan proposes only 1.5 km of additional bike lanes in Vaughan in the next five years. When priorities are right, a street can be transformed into a vibrant place for people. It's obvious that priorities are elsewhere.

At Vaughan Corporate Centre (Hwy 400 & Hwy 7), the big box stores with their massive free parking lots make walking from one store to another very challenging. Moreover, all this pavement is where nature was before. Where do the birds go? What effect does this have on our watercourses and the air we breathe?

The GO Train takes only 35 minutes from Maple to Union Station. Fantastic! But with only four trains in the morning and evening, Monday to Friday, there is standing-room only. What about those who work in North Toronto, or to the East or West? There are few alternatives to driving, except spending a very long time travelling by bus. In Vaughan, the majority who take transit do so because they don't have an available vehicle, not because it's easier or more convenient. Far from it.

Imagine our City with dedicated lanes for buses and light rail that come every five minutes, so people would choose not to drive. Imagine a network of bikeways throughout the City that would take you anywhere you want to go, with vibrant public spaces to walk and socialize in the absence of noisy traffic. What a wonderful place it would be. We need decision-makers to champion a better transportation system. A happier, healthier, and more sustainable future depends on it!

-S

Hwy 407 @ Keele Street

6 lanes of traffic lanes, but no bike lanes

Check out the state of this sidewalk at Keele and Steeles, as you enter Vaughan!

Buses inch along in rush hour traffic

Cars are the priority here... no sidewalk.

The City of Vaughan has since repaved this intersection (Keele St & Major Mackenzie) but still no bike lanes.

The American way of life is a blessed one?

"That's a big no. The president believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life. The American way of life is a blessed one." -White House press secretary Ari Fleischer on whether President Bush would call on drivers to reduce their fuel consumption

Air pollution decreases on Yom Kippur in Israel

Once a year, on Yom Kippur, Israel shuts down for this holiest day of the year. Most streets and highways are closed to vehicles. Places of entertainment are closed, radio and TV broadcasts have gone off the air It is quiet, and the air is clean. For the non-observant, on that day, the streets become the preserve of children on wheels. It is also an opportunity to measure reductions in air pollution in response to greatly reduced traffic. It's a country-wide carfree day.

Biking on the Ayalon Freeway facing south (Isabel Maxwell)

http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/6829.htm

Sounds of the City

By Isabel Maxwell October 14, 2005

6.30am on this Thursday morning -- the sounds of Yom Kippur ---- s i l e n c e. Not one car... but the whispering wind in the blue, blue sky. It is a gorgeous day. Soon enough will come the first sounds of the "Bicycle Festival" as this holiday has come to also be known by the more secular population of the city, who use the occasion to take to the streets on human-powered wheels. But right now, at this dawn hour, not only the usual traffic noise sounds are gone, the energy of the streets feels completely different -- than that of the middle of any night for instance. It's the quiet of a city taking stock.

Soon enough the streets are filled with bicycles and skaters and parents getting their first real exercise in a year, puffing after their children -- all excitedly in the middle of the streets talking animatedly, riding higgledy piggeldly, laughter of the older children and shrieks from the little ones as they taste their new found freedoms testing out the roads they have never been allowed to go near before -- "

Daddy! Mommy!" The traffic lights are madly blinking stop! Go! Stop! Go! And of course, no one is taking any notice. The birds are calling to each other above the roof tops. Caw caw!! Chirp chirp!! Wooooo wooooooo goes the dry north wind. You can even hear crickets by the usually bustling beachfront promenade. it is all quite delightful.

11am. I roll my own bike out and head north to see a friend near Bene Brak. The long stretch of Rokah Boulevard, usually filled with streams of hurrying cars and taxis honking their horns without relief, is totally empty except for all the bicycles and roller skaters with their dogs panting galllantly along on leashes, trying to catch up.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/906705.html

Report: Air pollution 100 times lower during Yom Kippur
By Zafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
Air pollution in Jerusalem and the Dan region was 100 times less on Yom Kippur than on ordinary days, when cars are on the roads, air pollution monitors from the Environmental Protection Ministry found.

According to the figures released by the ministry Sunday, levels of nitrogen oxide in the Dan region over Yom Kippur were two to 12 parts per billion - but when the holiday was over, the figure rose to 205 parts per billion. In Jerusalem, the numbers declined from 250 parts per billion in the afternoon before Yom Kippur to between two and 12 parts per billion during the holiday.

Nitrogen oxide is the compound emitted by vehicle exhaust pipes and is one of the prime urban pollution indicators. One component of this kind of pollution, nitrogen monoxide, is considered particularly dangerous to health, causing chronic and even fatal respiratory conditions.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Ministry released figures for 2006, which indicated that some areas of the country exceeded World Health Organization pollution standards for ozone in the lower atmosphere. One of the causes of ozone pollution is the release of nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere.

Air pollution in Jerusalem and the Dan region was 100 times less on Yom Kippur than on ordinary days, when cars are on the roads, air pollution monitors from the Environmental Protection Ministry found. According to the figures released by the ministry Sunday, levels of nitrogen oxide in the Dan region over Yom Kippur were two to 12 parts per billion - but when the holiday was over, the figure rose to 205 parts per billion.

In Jerusalem, the numbers declined from 250 parts per billion in the afternoon before Yom Kippur to between two and 12 parts per billion during the holiday. Nitrogen oxide is the compound emitted by vehicle exhaust pipes and is one of the prime urban pollution indicators. One component of this kind of pollution, nitrogen monoxide, is considered particularly dangerous to health, causing chronic and even fatal respiratory conditions.Last week, the Environmental Protection Ministry released figures for 2006, which indicated that some areas of the country exceeded World Health Organization pollution standards for ozone in the lower atmosphere. One of the causes of ozone pollution is the release of nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere.

Street car was desired in York Region of old

Streets near Old Town Hall such as the Main and Botford streets area (left) used to offer streetcar rides in the early 19th century.

From: http://www.yorkregion.com/article/53847

Oct 15, 2007 08:18 PM
Newmarket street car service? It's been done before

By: Sean Pearce

It’s perhaps a little ironic, seeing how many commuters are forced to crawl along highways or cram into buses on a daily basis, that Newmarket once possessed a streetcar route into Toronto.

No, that’s not a misprint. According to the town’s own website, in 1899 a set of electric railway tracks came up Yonge Street and curved over towards Newmarket’s Main Street via what would today be Cane Parkway.

The terminal for Newmmarket was at the Railroad Hotel, later known as the King George Hotel, at Timothy and Main Streets, although later on it did move a little west and a new terminal was built on Botsford Street across from the Old Town Hall. Amazingly, the tracks then continued northward up to Sutton West.

It can be problematic at times these days to even catch a bus up that far.

The so-called radial was quite the phenomenon for tourists from the big city of Toronto to the south.

Many Torontonians came up for the popular Newmarket Farmers’ Market held each Saturday in the town and, according to the town of Newmarket’s website, a North York Agricultural Fair was held here each September that also brought a great number of weary urbanites out for a bit of country charm.

The streetcar line also had other uses and was sometimes utilized to ship freight, such as fresh produce, down from the area and into Toronto.

The line was at first operated by the Metropolitan Railway Company from 1897 to 1904, before being acquired by the Toronto and York Radial Railway Company.

The TYRRC operated the service for a further 18 years until it was acquired by the City of Toronto and operated by Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario as the Hydro Electric Railways: Toronto and York Division in 1922.

As the automobile continued to gain traction as the faster way for folks who could afford it to get around the fortunes of the streetcar line began to sour.

A better network of roads and highways and cheaper automobiles also contributed to a sharp decline in the service’s usage.

Ultimately service beyond Richmond Hill was discontinued in the early 1930s and in 1947 the tracks running from North Toronto to Richmond Hill were torn up as the automobile was clearly ruling the road.

Remember that the next time, when you’re caught in traffic, and you’re wondering if there isn’t a better way to get to the city.

New roads make it easy to ignore public transit

Another road opens in Vaughan, with sprawling, low-density subdivisions under construction as far as the eye can see. Take a drive on Major Mackenzie between Keele St and Dufferin St to see for yourself. How will public transit effectively serve them? Buses will be too slow, infrequent, and inconvenient to attract people away from their cars. And that's an inconvenient truth. -S

October 9, 2007

MCNAUGHTON ROAD EAST OPENS TODAY

VAUGHAN, ON – The McNaughton Road extension which runs from Keele Street to Major Mackenzie Drive was officially opened to the public today.

“The completion of the McNaughton Road extension will have a positive effect on our community as it will allow the City to provide the appropriate infrastructure to relieve gridlock through Maple on Major Mackenzie and help attract and retain businesses,” said Mayor Linda Jackson. “The extension is especially important to the redevelopment and intensification of the existing Civic Centre site.”

York Major Holdings constructed the capital work on the City’s behalf in order to accelerate the development of their nearby lands. City Council authorized completion of the extension in April 2003.

“The extension and the development of York Major Holdings’ land is an important part of the City’s strategy with respect to the closure of the Keele Valley Landfill,” said Ward 1 Councillor Peter Meffe. “It will also encourage redevelopment of the secondary buffer zone of the landfill.”

The new four-lane road runs east 1.6 kilometres and connects to the existing McNaughton Road at Keele Street, approximately two blocks north of the intersection at Major Mackenzie Drive and Keele Street.

The extension is adjacent to the former Keele Valley Landfill Site. These lands, with an area of approximately 245 hectares, are being rehabilitated under the Maple Valley Plan that includes new parkland and natural open spaces, and some commercial development.

McNaughton Road east will reduce traffic volume at the intersection of Keele Street and Major Mackenzie Drive, site of the new Civic Centre currently under construction.

The Record
Thu 11 Oct 2007

New roads make it easy to ignore public transit
Byline: Shelley Maw

As long as we continue to build more roads in Ontario to reduce traffic congestion, we will not stop driving and start using public transit.

Human beings do not change their ways of doing things until their current method becomes unbearable, and when there is an alternative that is reasonably convenient and affordable.

If we keep making driving easier and more convenient, we might as well save our breath (and our money) trying to sell the idea of leaving our cars at home and taking public transit.

Why do people in this region take public transit? By far the majority of those who do, do so because they don't have an available vehicle. Why do those of us who drive not take public transit? Because it is neither easier nor more convenient. Far from it. Why do many of us take public transit to or in Toronto? Because it is easier, and more convenient than trying to drive and to park in Toronto's traffic.

Forget a new Highway 7 and the proposed 424 bypass, and give us a public transit alternative that is reasonably simple and convenient.

Eventually the traffic nightmares will push us to use it. If you solve the traffic congestion problem, we won't change our car habit.

The World's Newest and Cheapest Subway: Beijing Line 5

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/10/beijing_subway_5.php

Transportation key election issue in York Region

Metroland York Region newspapers

Wednesday, October 3, 2007
COLUMN

No one route to better commute
By: Sean Pearce

As anyone who wakes up impossibly early every weekday morning to make the trek to Toronto for work well knows, traffic congestion isn’t going away.
Far from it.

Every year, the number of cars on the road, often occupied by a single person, seems to multiply exponentially on hwys. 400 and 404 and any other route that leads into the big city.
The drive home isn’t much better.

So far, all four major party leaders have come out saying Ontarians deserve better than to become virtual prisoners in their automobiles for 10, 15 and, in some cases, 20 hours a week. And the economic implication of all this congestion is nearly as costly as the social one.
It is then safe to say, in terms of transportation issues, York Region faces a multitude of obstacles, but has a myriad of possible solutions at its disposal.

Transit
In terms of improving public transit in the region, each party presents a slightly different approach, but all agree more is needed.

The Liberals spent a number of months leading up to the election introducing a whole host of transit initiatives, each more ambitious than the last.

One of the more recent was MoveOntario 2020, a $17.5-billion plan that would see, among other things, construct a new subway into York Region under Yonge Street, up to Hwy. 7 in Richmond Hill. This, along with the subway to Vaughan, would give the region a subway in the east and west portions with the idea it would help more people to park their cars and choose transit instead.

Of course, the only problem is determining whether or not the cash-strapped TTC, who would have to pay the operating costs, will be able to foot the bill in the long run.

Is the subway even the best possible solution for York Region in the long haul? The Progressive Conservatives don’t seem to think so. The PCs, under John Tory, have vowed to create a new funding model for Ontario, one that sees all gas tax collected going back to municipalities.

That way, it is the municipal governments that can decide for themselves how they should spend the cash.

In a similar fashion, Mr. Tory has said it should be the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority, the experts, recommending these major transit projects and not politicians.
More to the point, the much touted plan for the subway, seeing as how it may take at least four to five years to get things under way, might simply be too little too late.
The time for rapid transit and action is now, Mr. Tory said.

The NDP also has said it favours increasing public transit and, in some cases, freezing fares to keep from deterring would-be riders with increasing prices. That might be a valid point seeing as how the York Regional Transit committee is in the midst of implementing a possible fare increase at this precise moment.

The Greens are, naturally, also in favour of more public transit as the answer to congestion and, to that end, are advocating the diversion of 75 per cent of all funds currently budgeted for highway construction, up until 2012, toward transit.

The one thing all parties seem to support is the extension of GO Transit’s rail corridor through the region to Barrie and the implementation of all-day rail service in York.
Roads

Of course, improved and enhanced transit in York Region will not get everyone out of their cars and on to trains, buses or even subways.

The Liberals seem to have recognized this and have been working away building and expanding the province’s network of high occupancy vehicle lanes in the hope if people must drive, they will, at the very least, carpool.

Work on the long-discussed extension of Hwy. 404 to Georgina also seems to be under way.
The PCs, among them former minister of transportation Frank Klees, have come out saying York Region needs more than future subways and even enhanced transit.

The extension of Hwy. 404 to Georgina, Hwy. 427 to Orangeville and the construction of the Bradford Bypass are of vital importance, Mr. Klees said.

If these major arteries were built or extended, the logic goes, congestion would decrease dramatically as there would be less need for through traffic to clog up roads such as Davis Drive, Wellington Street or Woodbine Avenue on a daily basis.

The NDP and the Greens also seem to support ideas such as encouraging consumers to buy more eco-friendly vehicles and the creation of more HOV lanes in addition to new transit initiatives and simple ideas such as tele-commuting and people-powered solutions such as cycling and even good, old-fashioned walking.

Reality
The fact remains voters are looking for action on the congestion issue and it is likely whichever proposal is most sound, the real answer will likely be a multi-pronged approach. Is more and improved public transit needed? Yes, absolutely. Too many people complain schedules are inconvenient for their lives or routes don’t go where they need them to go, so, instead, they drive.

Does York Region need a faster network of highways? The answer, again, is yes. The fact is, no matter how good transit is, it will not entice everyone out of their cars.

Hopefully, as the HOV network continues its expansion, more people will be encouraged to travel with others, but the fact remains many people in this region still continue their age-old love affair with the automobile.

Creating a longer and more efficient network of highways will undoubtedly remove much of the unnecessary through traffic in the region and, in the end, allow everyone to get where they are going more quickly and efficiently.

Finally, sprawl must be reigned in. Construction continues often without the benefit of infrastructure such as adequate roads and transit. All four parties are agreeing this cannot continue.

The fact remains whoever the voters choose, there must be action and it must come soon. York Region and Ontario, on the whole, cannot afford to wait.

$100M to Ease Gridlock in 2 Years

http://www.thestar.com/article/249785

I was glad to read about these recommendations; but the $100 Million seems like small steps compared to the $17.5 Billion Move Ontario 2020 plan.

Rethinking Traffic Congestion

Widening roads can be counterproductive...
http://www.culturechange.org/issue8/traffic%20expands.htm

Are we better off now?

"After almost a century of improvement in the speed of cars, in roads and in traffic control, it takes as long to cross central London now as it did in 1900. Then, the average speed of horse-drawn carriages was 8mph (13 km/h). In 1988, cars could move no faster."

- Reader's Digest How in the World

Comics on Cars Dependancy