If there is one aspect of modern society that I positively can’t stand it has to be cars.

If we could stand back and look at transportation objectively, cars would just look completely ridiculous. Let us contemplate cars as transportation for a moment.

Large steel objects are hurtled towards each other at a sum relative velocity of something like 160km/h whilst carrying only one person each. They use enormous amounts of energy. They use up huge tracts of land for their storage and for the infrastructure needed to carry them. Because they have no systematic routing, they end up with lower *average* velocities during rush-hour than bicycling. They spew enormous amounts of toxic fumes. A person is killed because of one every 240 minutes in our tiny island. Cars drive demand for energy much above what it should be resulting in increased desirability of oil which serves to create pathological political instability in the middle east. They lower quality of life as they are expensive to own and care for.

In sum total, they are not only wasteful, inefficient, toxic and deadly. They are also completely unecessary. We can affect travel in much better ways. The DART is a fabulous transportation system. If we could cover the island with a system like this, it would take up far less space, use less energy, and it would be faster for the purpose of travel than cars ever could.

I often hear the various parties (including the Greens!) saying that the trafic problem should be solved that with more and bigger roads to solve the traffic problem. One need only look at LA to see the complete futility and absurdity of trying to solve the problem by throwing roads at it. LA had faster average cross town transit speeds in 1920 when trolleys were common. It would be and environmental and aesthetic disaster if we were to turn Ireland into an LA-like twisted mass of freeways.

Where I grew up, in Anchorage Alaska, there really was nothing for it but to own a car. The city center was 12 km from my home, and winter temperatures could reach as low as -40C. There was no public transportation that could be used reliably. The most frequent bus routes were served once every 45 minutes. The buses were frequently late, or even worse early, and they sometimes didn’t come at all. The transit center where all bus transfers took place was at the *edge* of town. The poor were at a terrible disadvantage. A car was necessary to hold a job. The poor also spent a disproportionate amount of income on their cars since the weather causes more repairs to be necessary than in a more moderate climate and cheap cars would break down frequently.

Things are certainly never going to be that terrible in Ireland. The public transit system is great relative to the US, even if it is terrible relative to most of Europe. I am however frightened by the lack of support for a comprehensive public transportation plan and the talk of increased roads. If anything, all public roads should be toll roads. Using cars should be discouraged, and the money could be used to provide real alternatives. Poor decisions should not be rewarded with subsidies from the state. Building roads and road maintainance are a subsidy of a poor tranportation choice.