Wouldn't it be nice...

This is a great blog post at "Adastra per Aspera", with lots of photos, about changing from driving to walking (and pedicabs) in our towns and cities.

Walk about the future of Paso Robles, California

I went on a walk through downtown Paso Robles today. It was led by a fellow whose job is to point out to the people in towns and villages across the country that we are entering a new era and they must look at the infrastructure development in a new way. He’s earned his stripes as he has done that walk 2,448 times so far.

The villages hire him to show what they’ve done right and wrong over the years and how to plan for future development. We walked about 20 blocks around the center of town. He noted that the towns must now think about how to handle more WALKING PEOPLE.

In the past, the villages had lots of land and money so when they did something wrong in design/development it did not matter much. They could err without disaster.

The change that needs to come, he says, is for villages to be much more aware about how people can walk around or ride their bikes to visit downtown to shop or entertain themselves rather than always driving to accomplish those tasks. In fact, many businesses now have drive-through capabilities. This makes it difficult for people on foot to do business.

I think he is talking about the future price of gasoline, but he did not say that. “Profound changes” he said about American villages of the future.

For example, we need to think about how to do a better job with parking cars in the downtown area. The safest way is to back into a diagonal spot. The most accommodating type of parking is at a 90 degree angle that leaves space for more cars to park and which is also safer than diagonal excluding the backing in method.

He pointed at a 30 mph sign in the middle of our town and said, “The safest speed is at 20 mpg for pedestrians and drivers. A pedestrian had a 90% chance of surviving being hit at 20 mph but only a50% chance at 30 mph.” I never even thought of that before. I believe there will be a lot of things that come up in the next 20 years that we never thought much about before.

Like the idea that pedestrians, not automobiles, need to be at the forefront of future planning.

Wouldn't it be nice if municipalities thought more about pedestrians, bicycles and pedicabs than they do about cars? Sometimes I think that if urban planners had it their way, everyone would travel only in cars, never by foot or pedal. And even when they plan these new "urban communities," around "alternative transportation" (really meaning mass transit), they don't plan for the trip from the bus stop or subway station to home or office. They just build more parking structures.

But things are changing... aren't they? At least that's what I hear. But some cities still use the same excuses to keep pedicabs out:

• They're dangerous, a hazard (No, the cars, trucks and buses are dangerous.)
• They'll interfere with or block traffic (When was the last time you saw a traffic jam exclusively caused by a pedicab?)
• There's no place for them on the streets or sidewalks (There might be if cities actually planned for them!)
• We have too many people on foot in that area (Pedicabs help move pedestrians out of and around crowded area.)
  

Wouldn't it be nice... if cities, planners and developers actually came to a pedicab company and said, "We're planning this new community where people won't need to drive their cars so much, and we think pedicabs would be a great transportation option there. Your input would be valuable, so we'd like you to join us in the planning."

Is that time coming? Are things really changing?