How Public Transit is a Luxury of the Poor

Yesterday afternoon I was busy counting down the hours until I can rid myself of using a car daily, as if the slab of steel were a benign tumor being removed. For those who don’t know, I’m taking all things Mildly Relevant to downtown Cleveland, where I’ll be within walking distance of my day job, trains and buses. One of the reasons I opted for this location was the amount of time I’ll save not driving, which became a plus due to my distaste of commutes. (Seriously, how many hours of our lives are we going to waste in our boxes-with-wheels?). If I could play public transit God for a moment, I would create more lines for our train system – the Rapid. So I tweeted out something nonchalant about wanting an extension of the Rapid going due west for stops in Lakewood and Rocky River – two lovely suburbs that would be within the city limits of most mid-to-large towns. Shortly thereafter, the Greater Cleveland Rapid Transit Authority’s twitter account (@GCRTA) tweeted me, “Much as we might want to, the current Federal budget talks are actually trying to CUT transit funding by 30% – speak up!” It’s then – and only then- that I realized that public transit must be a luxury of the poor!

EDIT: I sincerely apologize, but I forgot to address the concern that these poor folks will no longer have access to… y’know… grocery stores. Fear not! I’m sure the charitable folks over at McDonalds would be happy to build another facility in the new poverty-colony. Personally, I’d prefer a ripoff burger joint. Don’t want to be too generous!