fab
|
Tranportation systemQuite cultural thing
What is the most widely spread vehicule in your city ?
Her it would be mainly either this :
or this
|
Porthos
|
In all of the places I lived (various parts of Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, and now Central California) the public transportation system sucks. So you will see very many cars, congested highways, and buses, and taxis. The cars are also much bigger than they are in Europe.
Traffic on Wilshire Blvd
|
fab
|
Paris will soon inaugurate its new tramway.
the new tramways "a la française" with proper reserved area are very popular in Europe. contrary of the old tramways, they are more silent and use a often vegetalized space they doesn't share with others vehicules such as cars. It makes possible then to reduce the number of cars in the city centers.
the same one in Barcelona:
Josh, are scooters popular in the US? I don't remember having seen there ?
|
Benjamin [inactive]
|
This is the main form of transport in the centre of Birmingham:
It's much nicer now since they banned cars in most of the city centre.
|
Porthos
|
| fab wrote: |
Josh, are scooters popular in the US? I don't remember having seen there ? |
Motorized scooters? No, definitely not. But big V-8 pick-up trucks, and gas devouring SUV's are. 
We tend to think of scooters as more of an Italian and French thing, although there might be plenty in northern Europe. I was told they are prevalent in Italy and France because of the narrow, centuries old cobbled streets, which lack the width for cars.
|
fab
|
| Quote: | | I was told they are prevalent in Italy and France because of the narrow, centuries old cobbled streets, which lack the width for cars. |
Actually I just had bought one one week ago...
Before I used metro or feet when it was not long distance. But with scooter it is really the best way to move in Paris, avoid traffic and cross the city very quick, seing the monuments and to stop where you want (what's you don't in the underground metro).
I can see it through my window...
|
Porthos
|
Hey, it looks cumfy. 
|
fab
|
This other one is now very popular too... but a bit expensive.
 [/quote]
|
Porthos
|
That last one looks like something senior citizens drive around.  Here, when eldery people's driving license is revoked, they are sometimes allowed to drive those scooter type things in designated areas as a means of transportation.
|
Uriel
|
Public transportation? What's that?
Just kidding. It only exists in the most rudimentary form out here. Distances are too great and the population too sparse to really warrant it.
Virtually everyone has their own vehicle here, either a car, or the more iconic pickup truck (with the obligatory dog or two in the back, of course -- I once read that you know you're out west when every pickup you see has a dog in the back). SUV's are big, too. Many people also have duallies (dual-axle pickups, which have immense power for hauling heavy things like horse trailers and farm equipment (this is big ranching country), V-12 engines, and probably get about 2 miles to the gallon, gas-wise.
They usually have long beds and extended cabs and can seat about 6 comfortably, so they're really big, but then, finding a place to park isn't really much of a problem here....
|
fab
|
Josh,
I think you confonding with that :
A nice way to visit paris :
 [/quote]
|
Uriel
|
Now those are just silly!
|
Benjamin [inactive]
|
| fab wrote: | Josh,
I think you confonding with that : |
You might like to know that you can't actually use 'confond' in English, because I've seen you make this mistake quite often. The usual translation of 'confondre' is actually 'confuse'. There is also 'confound', which is more similar to the French word, but it is very rare -- the only place I've come across that one is in one of the more obscure and very politically incorrect additional verses of the British national anthem.
Of course, you can also use 'mix up', which can optionally be split: either 'to mix things up' (sounds a bit more British) or 'to mix up things' (sounds a bit more American). Actually, the 'up' isn't entirely necessary.
|
Uriel
|
| Quote: | | 'to mix up things' (sounds a bit more American) |
We also say "mix things up". Quite a bit.
|
Deborah
|
| Uriel wrote: | | Quote: | | 'to mix up things' (sounds a bit more American) |
We also say "mix things up". Quite a bit. |
I don't recall ever hearing anyone say "mix up things".
|
Benjamin [inactive]
|
| Deborah wrote: | | Uriel wrote: | | Quote: | | 'to mix up things' (sounds a bit more American) |
We also say "mix things up". Quite a bit. |
I don't recall ever hearing anyone say "mix up things". |
Okay... fair enough!  For some reason, I associated that as a more American way of saying it, although I really have no idea why. Perhaps I just heard an American say it once, and thought it sounded weird, so assumed that it must be an American expression.
|
Deborah
|
San Francisco has the second-best public transportation system in the US (NYC has the best). You can get within a short walking distance of just about any place in the city. However, we don't have nearly the subway coverage that NY has. There are a few light rail lines and one subway line in the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART), but we mostly have buses.
BART is primarily for bringing people from the suburbs into SF, but it's also great if you happen to live and work near the line, as I do. I just wish we had more lines. And I wish many of the drivers were a lot less surly.
|
fab
|
| Quote: | | You might like to know that you can't actually use 'confond' in English, because I've seen you make this mistake quite often. The usual translation of 'confondre' is actually 'confuse'. |
Thanks Benj for the correction. I'll try not do the mistake anymore !
|
fab
|
Benjamin, is ther a lot of scooters in England ?
In Netherlands I almost never saw one, but bicycles everywhere...
Italy is famous for having really scooters everywhere.
|
Benjamin [inactive]
|
| fab wrote: | | Benjamin, is ther a lot of scooters in England ? |
Not really, no.
| Quote: | | In Netherlands I almost never saw one, but bicycles everywhere... |
The smaller and older English cities are like that, especially Oxford and Cambridge.
Cambridge:
|
Porthos
|
| fab wrote: | Josh,
I think you confonding with that :
|
[/quote]
No, they really do drive the former picture in retirement communities. I see them all of the time.
And Benjamin, we always say "mix things up", and not "mix up things".
|
Harrenys Targaryen
|
The suburbs of Chicago are serviced by the PACE bus system. Quality varies widely from route to route, though most are quite good since they have an automated voice signal that announces prominent intersections and landmarks.
Here's one of the buses that I ride often:
|
fab
|
In Paris, we have a water tranportation, the Batobus.
|
Uriel
|
I think I've been on that.
|
patriccke
|
| fab wrote: | the same one in Barcelona:
|
A few meters below:
(BTW if you want to meet me, that's where I'm working. I don't know who took this picture. I spent the whole week getting on and off the train parked on that very track!)
|
fab
|
you work for Alsthom ? that's interesting. Last year I worked in the field of urbanism projects linked to the implantation of tramways. (extension of the boulevard des marechaux)
|
Walker
|
The most widely spread vehicle in Sweden is probably the bicycle.
Most families have a car (that's one car, not two). Many people don't drive to and from work but bicycle or take the bus instead. At least in my city.
We have an excellent public transportation system that a lot of people use.
Stockholm has a subway...
In Stockholm, Gothenburg and Norrköping you can ride a tram.
Those are pretty charming and really add to the athmospere.
So it varies a bit from city to city how one transports oneself. When I lived in Uppsala I had a neighbor from Stockholm who reacted upon the fact that everybody in Uppsala rides a bicycle. He's said that in Stockholm just getting somewhere is a project in itself.
Scooters, or the so-called EU-moped, has become popular amongst teens. To drive one of those you have to be 15 years old and have a driver's license (moped klass I). To get hold of such a licence all you have to do is pass a theoretical test, and take a small practical test. When I was taking my driver's licence (car) I asked my driving instructor about EU-mopeds, and he said he wanted nothing to do with them. Apparently those kids who do get them aren't well prepared when they hit the streets; that license is too easy to get and those kids are immature. A while ago my sister's friend was in an accident with her EU-moped and lost half a finger. You're allowed to drive 45km/h but a lot of kids "adjust" their bikes to make them go faster.
|
Uriel
|
You could SO get creamed on one of those!
In NM, it's legal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, and plenty of people roar down the highway at 80 - 90 mph wearing nothing but sunglasses and a smile full of bugs. 
I've seen some pretty horrific motorcycle and ATV accident results at my hospital (and remember, we're a physical rehabilitation facility, not an emergency room -- we only get the survivors ... and of those, only the ones in good enough shape to go back home!) -- multiple broken bones, brain damage, broken backs, paralysis, amputations (one had an arm ripped off during the accident -- it couldn't be reattached).
Personally, I like to have four walls around me when I crash into something. One shouldn't experiment with Newton's Laws without 'em!
|
patriccke
|
| fab wrote: | | you work for Alsthom ? that's interesting. Last year I worked in the field of urbanism projects linked to the implantation of tramways. (extension of the boulevard des marechaux) |
Yep! Do you still work in the field of urbanism?
I have to go to Paris to see this new tram. I guess I'm going to feel old when comparing it with the underground trains I used to take when I was a child!!!
|
fab
|
Yes patrickke, I still work in the field of urbanism. New tramways are an interesting subject in the sense that they are acomagnied to a re-think of all the public space that surround them, and are often linked to urban requalification projects.
|
Elaine
|
The kids today like to drive these (and for some reason it's mostly Persian and Armenian teens and young adults that I ever see driving these):
Environmentally friendly hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius are also very popular, especially among the yuppies:
Other than that you'll see a gamut of models and makes, from BMWs and Mercedes Benzes to Hondas and Hyundais.
Alternative modes of transportation:
DASH
Metro Rapid
Metro Orange Line
Metro Gold Line
Metro Local
LA subway (Metro Red Line)
|
fab
|
| Quote: | | Hey, it looks cumfy. |
What does it means "cumfy" ?
|
Harrenys Targaryen
|
| fab wrote: | | Quote: | | Hey, it looks cumfy. |
What does it means "cumfy" ? |
Porthos seems to have misspelled "comfy", which is short for "comfortable".
|
|
|
