[via wikipedia]
This question was posed to me while ordering my dinner from a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia. It was near closing time, and the cooks had begun cleaning up, so my order of fries was going to take a few minutes before they would be ready. The restaurant was surprisingly busy for this late on a Monday night, but I reasoned that the massive accumulation of snow outside had not just canceled my train home, it had also shut down streets, grocery stores, and restaurants across the entire region.
I had prepared myself for a quick, three-day trip to Washington, DC to interview with a few firms. When one interviewer asked me if I would be able to meet with another person on Monday (the person I would be working more directly with) I reluctantly agreed. This was Super Bowl Weekend, and I was planning on hosting a party on Sunday night. But if the extra time would help me land the job, I was willing to stay. The Super Bowl was not my only reason for wanting to leave on time - the snow was just beginning to fall, and many business had already closed in anticipation of the snow. My lack of understanding just what was about to take place was underscored by the comment I made to the interviewer:
"You know what we call this in Chicago?"
"What's that?"
"June"
The snows began on Saturday. On Sunday the skies parted and cabin-fevered Washingtonians began to take to the street. The street scene was one I truly enjoyed seeing; the streets were hardly plowed, to say nothing of the sidewalks, and there were few vehicles out. In their stead, throngs of people could be seen walking up and down the newly pedestrianized streets amidst the winter wonderland. The collective need surpassed our selfishness, and people could be seen digging out sidewalks, removing snow from a neighbors' roof, or pushing a car out of a snow-fortified parking space. It was a stunning moment of humanity in which I saw the possibilities of a pedestrianized world and the potential of all the networks and relationships that could be forged when we no longer passed by each other at 40 miles an hour, but had time to wave, say "hi", and ask how a strangers' day has been going. I wish I would have had my camera.
After I found out I was going to be staying until Monday, I traded my Saturday train ticket for one on Tuesday morning. This was a simple process, and I applaud Amtrak for its ease. But neither train was to leave; both were canceled, logically, due to the heavy amounts of snow accumulation strung between DC and Chicago. If the trip is normally 17 hours, imagine that same trip plowing through 26 inches of snow. I rescheduled again, this time for Wednesday. It was also at this time that I booked a cheap flight out of Dulles. While I was glad to be arriving in Chicago 36 hours earlier than I would have on Amtrak, I was slightly disappointed that I couldn't complete my round-trip journey by train alone.
Tuesday's blizzard only compounded the problems. In addition to the trains not running, the airports had closed indefinitely, and me without a car, was stuck there to wait it out. I knew beforehand that America had a love affair with cars, but I've always been biased toward mass transit, and so I could overlook its deficiencies. But stranded in DC with no way of leaving, no way to get around, I was given no choice but to come to grips with the fact that America NEEDS cars. Yes, we can build a national high-speed rail network, and it will increase usage over today's ridership, but America came into its own during the automobile revolution, and as a result we have larger, more spread out cities in varied locations with little option to connect it all with any type of mass transit. Short of dynamiting each American city and starting from scratch, America will require a lot of cars.
And the cars we need do not need to look like the cars we have. Smaller, more efficient cars, cars that stack or compact, cars made for one or two people, cars that include towing or carrying capacity. Wind-, Solar-, and Geothermal-generated Hydrogen or electric cars can replace the internal combustion engine. Carpooling, rideshare, rentals, all are potential avenues for the new automobile. As my 4 canceled trains and 3 flights indicate, cars will be necessary.
And like most Earth-saving technologies, the market, policies, financing, technologies, or innovations are preventing them from hitting the streets today. So we should work toward many solutions, generating them in myriad ways, the same way one of my myriad schemes to get home finally panned out. Because some technologies will sputter out and some will be canceled, but given enough time one will carry us home.
So can I wait 3 minutes? You bet.
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