City of Benson Planning & Zoning Director Sales and Marketing Davis Kitchens Cabinet Sales Tucson RegionRoad runner : Web site lets you vent about your commuteArizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.08.2009
We hope your commute isn't so bad that you tell people, "It sucks."
But given how often somebody, somewhere, says just that, a group called Transportation for America is trying to tap into drivers' rage to get Congress to rethink transportation funding.
Your frustration, and the need to vent it, is the fuel on which the group's lobbying effort — called "My commute sucks, and I'm not going to take it anymore" — runs.
Anyone can log on to mycommutesucks.org and "let it all out." Then people can sign a petition to be sent to Congress.
It's one of the shorter petitions out there, reading only: "Dear Congress, My commute sucks and it's not getting any better. Stop pouring billions into a broken system. Transportation shouldn't be an expensive, dirty burden. Fix it, clean it, make it work!"
The goal is to get Congress to "make smart transportation investments," which means bringing accountability into the transportation-funding realm.
The point of the site is for commuters to make their own suggestions about fixing, cleaning and bettering the transportation system — a wish I haven't seen fulfilled much on the site.
Recently the site included a spate of complaints about the Chicago area, but there are complaints from across the nation about the hours people spend idling in stagnant traffic.
Here's an example of the tone captured on the site: "There is nothing worse than the alarm going off in the early-morning hours only to lay (sic) there and think of what a grueling trip you have ahead of you and how your stress levels are going to go from a 2 to a 10, and that's before you get into work," submitted by someone identified only as Angela.
Not everyone who logs on to the site is there to bellyache. Some have looked a little more inwardly for solutions and have suggested that gripers do something besides signing a petition. One person said the bike commute is a pleasure; others point out that living 50 miles away from a job can only mean an obviously horrendous commute.
Gripes can get attention, for sure, and knowing the problem is the first step in finding a solution (Problem-solving 101). But it's also a wonder that some of these people haven't considered changing part of their lifestyle, if possible.
Why do people live dozens of miles from their workplace? I think the answer has less to do with transportation (the perceived problem) and more to do with housing costs, pay rates and education systems.
There's a bigger picture here, and a miserable commute is just the tip of the flat tire.
How should Congress (or anyone else) go about the task of fixing it, cleaning it up and making it work?
Road Runner answers road-related questions in this column on Mondays. Find Road Runner, plus traffic cams and other transportation news, at azstarnet.com/transportation. Send your questions by e-mail to roadrunner@azstarnet.com or to P.O. Box 26807, Tucson, AZ 85726. Please include your first and last names. Find traffic updates and other transportation news on the Gridlocked blog at: go.azstarnet.com/gridlocked
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