Today is National Dump the Pump Day. It’s primary focus is getting more people to use public transportation.
Here in the Bay Area, you definitely have a lot of options. As I wrote before, Silicon Valley's overall bikes on trains policy leaves Connecticut in the dust.
Where Silicon Valley does fall behind - way behind - is scale. When I lived in Stamford I wouldn’t bother checking the train schedule when going to the train station in the mornings as there was always a train within twenty or thirty minutes. From what I’ve seen so far - especially when I try to use Caltrain or VTA - there needs to be more trains. Otherwise, locking oneself in an individual 3,000 pound glass and metal capsule, massaging the brake and gas pedal while crawling along sounds better than choosing public transit.
I #choosethebike for a lot of reasons - but now that I'm living in Mountain View (but not for long - more on this later) and see how much great company I have on two wheels (and how much easier it is to park a bike) I ride out of convenience. If public transit wants to succeed it needs to be a more convenient choice than a car.
So today I hope you all participate in National Dump the Pump Day and remember two things: when you #choosethebike, everyday is dump the pump day. And the Bay Area will never truly be worthy of Peter Coyote's voiceover talents until it can figure out how to get all of these innovators and disruptors to work on time without traffic or environmental damage.
Thanks for reading and thanks for riding.
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