Boston Cars in Snow: Going Nowhere
by Kate Trainor on December 15, 2007
Snowstorms have been hammering the east coast off and on throughout the past week. However, what brought the city of Boston to its knees was not the storms – it was peoples’ reliance on their vehicles. The storm was moderate by New England standards. What exacerbated commute conditions was that many people fled for home simultaneously as the storm grew heavier in the mid-afternoon.
Yesterday, office workers were comparing war stories. Governor Patrick himself spent 3 1/2 hours in his vehicle as it crawled from Brighton, where he had done an interview at WGBH, to his home in Milton. Some schoolchildren in Boston didn’t make it home until 11:30 p.m. because snarled traffic prevented school buses from reaching them.
People who took MBTA subway lines, however, were regaling co-workers with the relative swiftness of their journeys. In Boston Harbor, the seas were tranquil enough for the Hingham commuter boat to run on schedule, with an extra trip added to accommodate prudent folks who stayed out of their cars.
Inclement weather is yet another reason to use public transportation. Sure, there may be some delays on mass transit due to severe storms. However, they’re not typically a direct result of the weather but because people flock to these “alternatives” because they work well in the snow. Relative to the huge highway infrastructure which relies on snowplows and salt / sand trucks to maintain the roads; tow trucks, ambulances, and fire trucks to clear the inevitable carnage of car accidents; and the dangers and delays inherent in car travel in the snow, travel via subway and train on days like these starts looking extra-appealing.
Keeping the tracks clear for fixed-line transportation (trains, subways) is a lot easier than maintaining every street in a city and its suburbs. Many of the storm-day delays encountered on the mass transit lines would be avoided if the lines had more funding, better ridership, and more cars on a regular basis. The answers aren’t simple – we’ve constructed a society largely built to encourage car use. Many U.S. citizens don’t even have easy access to public transportation. We’re sprawling all over, conditioned to think that cars are convenient, and we’re frikkin lazy. The solution involves politicians who aren’t in the back pocket of the auto/oil industries, smart urban planning, and people who realize that we can improve upon the status quo.
The forecast for tonight and Sunday: more snow, and rain turning to ice. As the Globe editorial proclaims, “Like snowflakes, no two storms are alike. But the lesson of the Thursday highway gridlock is not that there was too much snow, but that metropolitan Boston has too many drivers. Next time, if at all possible, leave the car at home.”
UPDATE: Check out these videos of trains plowing their way through snow.
Related posts:
- Trains in Snow: A Winter Video Celebration
- Car-Free in Boston
- Boston Bike Czar, Cheap Tech, Better Riding
- When it Snows, Toronto Values Cars More than People
- When Cars Are Extinct