Exile #2 and I took E5N1 into Oxford city centre for some late Christmas shopping today. Until seven years ago, Oxford was our nearest city and we were quite used to the traffic. Not any more.The first (and lesser) shock was the pedestrian traffic in the middle of the city. One of our new acquaintances in the US told us that the problem with the Northeast was that it was overrun. Well, certainly the places we go (and some - such as the mall - that we generally avoid due to the crowds) have nothing on Oxford's city centre. We saw it with new eyes:
Why did they put the parking lot here?
Where do we go now we've parked?
This staircase smells like a bathroom.
Quirky wall-art!
Ah a mini-mall.
Why would they put the stores on the sides of a busy street?
Why are there people one foot away from me in every direction?
How does anyone get anywhere?
However, this was nothing to the shock on leaving the car park after we'd finished - we aimed to get out before the rush-hour, but failed. After half and hour or so we had gone less than half a mile and saw this sign. Did they run out of ideas after inspired and exceptional or did they really want to say these are the final surroundings? It brings a new resonance to the British tradition of calling 'last orders' at the end of the night.
In the next half an hour we managed another mile or so. After that, we probably averaged 20 mph or so. All in all a 7 mile journey took about 70 minutes and apart from the time of year there was nothing exceptional. That's right - no accidents, no road work(s), just commuting traffic in a land built for much less traffic than it has today. We knew it was like this, but it's still hard to believe it on experiencing it anew. At least where we live now they are geared up for the amazing number of car journeys that happen every day - and that's just as well as there is no real alternative there.
Is there no real alternative because the infrastructure required for all the cars makes it that way, or was the infrastructure developed because there was no alternative? Chicken, or egg?
ReplyDeleteOn my recent trip to New York city it took me an and hour and a quarter to travel from Secaucus, NJ to downtown Manhattan every morning; a distance of 8 miles, on a combination of bus and underground. It was actually quite an enjoyable experience as I got to interact with the locals but I can imagine getting pretty fed up with it after a while. If I'd been in a car it would have been even worse - at least there were bus lanes to allow the buses to move! As far as I could see everyone else was stationary. At least in Oxford you can cycle - trying to do that though the Lincoln Tunnel would be suicide (and very probably illegal!)
A
That's the question really. It's certainly self-sustaining. I suppose that there was a time before everyone (or nearly everyone) owned cars when people used other ways or lived closer to where they worked. I suppose there had been a gradual migration to a driving lifestyle for the majority, maybe eventually we will migrate back (in Oxford and in upstate NY) but there is a strong reluctance (especially in the US) and there will need to be a strong force to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteAs far as traffic is concerned, almost everyone thinks their local city has terrible traffic. But one person's terrible is another person's terrific.