Mass transit in Cape Cod, Massachusetts is in trouble. The Flex bus, which serves the Lower Cape from Harwich to Provincetown, first went into service in May, 2006. A recent audit conducted by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (RTA) concluded that the service’s budget is $1 million in the red.
All Lower Cape towns served by the Flex pay a fee based on ridership. The RTA anticipated the state of Massachusetts would chip in $1 million to cover 80% of operating costs; but that hasn’t happened.
Robert Gayton, RTA’s accountant, recommends an immediate shutdown of the Flex. According to Gayton, the Flex may run into “bankruptcy, employees not getting paid and legal action against everyone and everything. We do not have the same protection that a government has.”
Cape Cod’s layout consists of inadequate, narrow highways and twisty backcountry roads. Houses are spread out and shopping is largely clustered together in shopping malls that encourage driving. These factors make public transportation sound like a pipedream, however when summer traffic chokes area roads in this extremely popular beach get away, getting on a bus starts to sound more appealing.
If Mass Coastal Railroad can get approval to renew the defunct train lines that run to Cape Cod, and the various RTA bus lines can actually get some funding, mass transit could change the face of the Cape and make family vacation time a whole lot less stressful. Mass Coastal was recently awarded the contract for Cape Cod trash removal via train and they currently run Cape Cod Central Rail which provides scenic tours and dinner trains.
Although Cape Cod does not fit the standard mold of dense urban living which meshes so well with public transportation, a well thought out system would for well with the long, narrow geography. Insane traffic headaches necessitate a change, we’ll see if Massachusetts is smart enough to encourage transportation that works.
Via Cape Codder. Photo via Flickr by Matt McVickar
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that if bicycles had to be insured in the same way as cars, there would be lawyers all over this. Without the monetary liability of a third party interest for cyclists, things will never change, that’s the price we pay for a capitalist system.
It’s very sad that cyclists are treated as having second class rights. If this same incident involved two cars, there would undoubtedly be stricter charges — most likely manslaughter.
So what does the author seek as a remedy?
Does he want blood? An eye for an eye? Give her “the electric chair”?
Shoot the bitch and stomp on her body for revenge to show the world just how tough on “crime” he is?
Between 400,000 and 500,000 people die in motor vehicle ACCIDENTS every decade in the US. Should an equal number of people be imprisoned for their “crimes”. Criminalization of more people is the last thing we need. We already have the largest prison population in the free world and it’s not because of “poor prosecution”. This woman is not Hitler or Al Capone. There was no INTENT to kill or harm anyone. This is why they are called ACCIDENTS. She is obviously an average poor young working teen with limited driving experience,(how unusual). This is a very sad ACCIDENT with no winners.
Whoa, Joe, SHOUT some more?
Some thoughts:
1) The author called for better education and enforcement. That answers your first question.
2) When someone gets behind the wheel of a car, then in terms of public interest and safety of other vehicles (including bicyclists) that driver has no age, race, gender, economic status, or good/bad intentions — these things become immaterial. Mr. Quinn is dead, and none of these factors mitigate that, so let’s set them aside for the moment.
3) Prison population. This issue is a can o’ worms! Question: Is it right to imprison someone for possession of weed for their own recreational use, but not Ms. Browning, whose actions have taken a life? Maybe neither should do time, or both? Would 9 months in lockup for Ms. Browning help bring public attention to the issue and help increase awareness? What if she were being careless with a firearm and killed Mr. Quinn — he’s just as dead, is she more/less deserving of some measure of punishment? How does perception factor into this, versus outcome?
4) In fact, Ms. Browning and her insurance carrier are probably subject to a wrongful death lawsuit should Ms. Quinn choose to file one.
5) Ms. Browning will probably carry the trauma of this for her lifetime, I acknowledge.
6) Also, I acknowledge that it “is a very sad accident with no winners.” But for me, “Oops” doesn’t cut it, and the token fines levied in this case stack up to little more than that.
Can anyone provide enforcement solutions from other countries? The Netherlands? Australia — where bikes have outsold cars for seven years (recent article)?
Joe, no offense, but your comments reek of ignorance. You’re right, she did “accidentally” kill Mr. Quinn, but there are still consequences (or, as the author states, there SHOULD BE) for taking a life. If she accidentally killed YOUR child walking in a crosswalk, you wouldn’t simply consider it an unfortunate write-off. The biker was completely within the bounds of the law, but now apparently he also needs eyes in the back of his head to watch out for reckless drivers coming from behind.
At a minimum, she should never be permitted to operate a motor vehicle again in her life. It needs to be easier to strip a person of their license to drive. Driving is a serious matter. Any collisions with pedestrians or cyclists should automatically result in a driver’s license suspension and felonies for driving without a license.
It’s time to take driving and its reprocussion seriously. The more careless drivers who are banned from driving the better! And even drivers can will benefit.
Also, it’s unfortunate the way these type of incident are usually reported: “cyclist killed by car”. They should read “cyclist killed by [insert driver's name], who was driving a car at the time.”
At a recent meeting of cycling advocates, the general consensus seemed to be that a large punishment for this driver was not the answer. There was consensus behind using this (and other incidents) to push for improved/increased driver education. One way to do this is by incorporating information about cyclists and their rights on the road into driver education courses and the written driver’s test. (Another approach is being taken by Olev Rapido, an ABQ area racing group – http://www.bicyclenm.net – but that isn’t what I’m concerned with here)
My concern is how to turn this death, and the death of Paula Higgins in 2006 at the hands of a 16 year old driver, into changes of the drivers education process in New Mexico. What ideas do people have about how to accomplish this task? I feel we owe it to those we have lost and to ourselves to act.
I heard, and I may be wrong, that Paula Higgins was southbound on Pennsylvania turning left onto Comanche when she was hit by a car going northbound on Pennsylvania. In other words, she made a left turn in front of oncoming traffic. Maybe the girl was speeding. Maybe the light was changing. Regardless, the best you can say for Paula is that she misjudged oncoming traffic. Let’s not go and assign all the blame to the driver simply because she was 16.
Education and maybe red light cameras might help prevent accidents like this in the future. However, education isn’t a one way street.
If I’m wrong about what happened, somebody please correct me.