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Heart and sole: Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute

freep.com

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Re: Heart and sole: Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute

#2

Post by elecengin »

I grew up in metro Detroit. I used to work summers as a programmer in one of the factories in the Rochester area near where he works.

The lack of public transit is one of the reasons I left the state. As the article alludes to - the cause is intentional. By removing public transit, rich suburbs can keep out the people from the city. An ambituous plan to add light rail down the iconic stretch of Woodward Ave extending out from the city to the suburbs was scrapped mostly because of this discrimination. It has turned detroit into a modern ghetto.

The only hope is that the downtown revitalization going on in Detroit breaks down this type of balkanization by encouraging traffic in the opposite direction (from the suburbs to the cities).

Re: Heart and sole: Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute

#6

Post by bryanlarsen »

BlameOnTheRain wrote: post #4
recursive wrote: post #3

This seems like a good application for a bicycle.

Too likely to get stolen.

He probably has secure locking facilities at both ends: he lives in a house, and is good friends with the factory owner at work.

Re: Heart and sole: Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute

#8

Post by maxerickson »

mikeyouse wrote: post #5
recursive wrote: post #3

This seems like a good application for a bicycle.

Biking in the snow / slush (especially on public streets since Detroit doesn't have the money to clear sidewalks) is an extremely precarious proposition.

The 7 mile leg close to the job is in Rochester Hills. Who knows what the road conditions are there, but Detroit's budget woes aren't a factor (It's even a different county).

So apparently half of the problem is that Oakland county doesn't have as much public transit as Wayne county.

Re: Heart and sole: Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute

#9

Post by saidajigumi »

mikeyouse wrote: post #5
recursive wrote: post #3

This seems like a good application for a bicycle.

Biking in the snow / slush (especially on public streets since Detroit doesn't have the money to clear sidewalks) is an extremely precarious proposition.

I can't speak to Detroit as a cycling venue, but I can to Buffalo. True year-round cycle commuting in a snowy region seems like an epic accomplishment, but just isn't that big a deal once you've actually done it. First, you should already be a competent urban cyclist. By competent, I mean you should have trained in the practices from Forester's Effective Cycling[1] or a similar resource. Second, prepare your bike and yourself for the climate in your area. Icebike.org[2] is a great resource for this.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Cycling-John-Forester/dp/026...

[2] http://icebike.org/

Re: Heart and sole: Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute

#10

Post by a2tech »

elecengin wrote: post #2

I grew up in metro Detroit. I used to work summers as a programmer in one of the factories in the Rochester area near where he works. The lack of public transit is one of the reasons I left the state. As the article alludes to - the cause is intentional. By removing public transit, rich suburbs can keep out the people from the city. An ambituous plan to add light rail down the iconic stretch of Woodward Ave extending…

You mean the M-1 Rail Project? If yes, its still very much alive and is under construction now: http://m-1rail.com
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