Wade on Birmingham

Heads up: Cars attacks

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traffic How bad is traffic in the Birmingham metro area? Forbes magazine says we have the worst commute among small cities, costing us 33 hours a year. Some 37 percent make it to work in less than 20 minutes.

The city ranked as having the best commute among small cities is Corpus Christi, Texas.

What’s being done to save us? Well, Mayor Langford proposed free rides on MAX buses to help combat rising gas costs, but both the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority and the city council have balked. So far, City Hall hasn’t provided promised cash to actually pay for the free rides. Not that the transit system hasn’t been broken for years.

Perhaps a more innovative solution comes from CommuteSmart Birmingham, which will pay you $2 a day (up to $120 in three months) for switching from driving alone to an alternate method: bike, walk, carpool, telecommute or even ride the bus.

Does Birmingham have what it takes to fix the transportation situation? Or are we all doomed to spend more time stuck in our cars and more money at the pump?
• Forbes: In Depth: Best And Worst Commutes In Small Cities

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4 Yips for “Heads up: Cars attacks”

  1. joe
    Thursday, May 8, 2008, 11:25 am
    1

    a better incentive in my opinion is in-car internet for those sharing a car. this will totally change the experience of driving to work to a fun experience with costs of $60/month per car , and free software like joikuspot that runs on nokia mobiles.

  2. Wade
    Thursday, May 8, 2008, 11:01 pm
    2

    Yes, but looking at pr0n while driving is a true hazard.

  3. keiser41
    Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 3:39 pm
    3

    I put commute 67 miles one-way 5 days a week to Birmingham for work. Since I do this on my own it’s not tax deductible.

    If there was a train (that ran more than once a day) or a shuttle service, I would be the first to purchase a monthly ticket to save on gas, stress and damage to my car due to the mileage.

    Minus holidays, vacations and such leaves over 30k a year on my car. I generally leave with an hour and a half to account for possible traffic problems.

    The only plus side is that I don’t have to be at work till 10am which is well after the bad rush.

  4. keiser41
    Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 3:41 pm
    4

    lol, I wish there was an edit command for this page… *put ^ above… shoul dno tbe there.

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