fauxcelt wrote:
When I am needed to be a bass player, I use either my three-quarter size acoustic bass fiddle (or string bass or double bass) or my electric bass guitar. If I use my electric bass, then I have the problem of bringing the amp along also.
If I am supposed to play piano instead of bass then I must bring my electronic keyboard which is five feet long and weighs thirty pounds. All of these instruments are too big and too awkward and too heavy to transport on a bicycle or a bus or a train.
I thought you were going to say you need a large truck to carry your piano. Thank God for electronic keyboards, which even at 5 feet and 30 pounds are much smaller and lighter than any standard piano.
And what of the poor bagpipe player's dilemma? I remember one of them left his bagpipes in his car's back seat, when he returned someone had broken into his car and left another set of bagpipes.
I don't think the problem is people who have cars for the occasional time they need to lug cargo. I think it's people who have cars who use them all the time, even if there might be a decent non-automobile option. So we get highways jammed with single occupant sedans and SUV's, taking up a lot more real estate than we would need if some of them shared vehicles.
Does anybody remember "The Gods Must be Crazy" with the homeowner who ran her car out of the garage to go to the mailbox at the foot of her driveway?
Some of this is just thoughtless force of habit, some of it may have a bit of calculation. With some, not necessarily adequate, justification people may feel a need to make many trips in order to bring down the cost per trip, since the variable costs - maintenance, fuel, etc... - usually are minor compared to the fixed costs - buying, insuring, garaging etc.
I ride the NJTransit Riverline, which slow as it is is still considerably faster than the comparable bus service, and depending on traffic can be at least as fast as the automobile. One fellow passenger mentioned how she prefers to drive, didn't give much reason why she prefers driving. I got the impression her household doesn't have enough cars for her to drive every day. Whatever, the next time I saw her on the Riverline she was asleep, a feat which I don't think she could do if she were employing her preferred commuting method.