Act: Here’s a few rules to follow if you want to travel by bus here in town: 1) Plan everything way ahead of schedule. The buses here, though they do run on an bi-hourly or hourly basis, they are always late. So plan to leave your house at least 2 hours ahead of schedule 2) Be prepared to walk…..a lot. The bus routes, unfortunately, do not cover a great percentage of the city. 3) If your’e planning to travel outside of the Modesto area by bus……be prepared for frustration. Within the close proximity of Modesto (such as Turlock, Ceres, etc.) there are transferable buses, but they aren’t as frequent or as reliable. Anything further than within the county……all I have to say is good luck! 4) the buses are very restricted as far as hours of operation are concerned. The buses, at the earliest, run at 6:15 and stop running at 7:45 pm, so if you need to get anywhere real early in the day or real late at night your best bet is to just forget about using the bus!, and lastly 5) You may experience some of the less desirable parts of Modesto’s population because, let’s face it, sometimes shady people ride the bus and you’re not always as safe as you feel in the comfort of your own car.
Now as far as proposed plans for light rails and trains that would connect Modesto to the rest of California, it’s always been a rumor floating around out there. The fact is, all proposed efforts would be costly and would take years to complete. Positives are that a completed connection to railways within California might bring business to Modesto and offer opportunities to people who previously never considered the option of commuting to work.

Imagine: Ok, Modestans here is what we need: a more reliable bus system, less crowded freeways, more bike and pedestrian walkways, and public transportation that connects all of California. Not asking for much, right? I know, I know all that is going to take years and billions of dollars easily. First off people should be given more incentives to try alternative means of commuting to work and school. Perhaps employers should give bonuses to workers who participate in carpools and commuting via automobile-less means. Hey that’s just me offering my two cents…..people like money, people will do things they normally wouldn’t if offered a little incentive….. viola……instantly less cars on the road!
Now how can I use my awesome powers to get this ball rolling? Hmmmm…..sounds like we need some cash support fast. Time for a lil trusty mind warp action! I shall give a little push to those with the extra cash to donate to the cause……believe me they will see this as positive. It’s not like I’m totally forcing them (cough-cough people have accused my mind warping skills of opening up the philanthropic pockets of the wealthy as being communist…….pssssh) Well if we have tons of cash lying about then we can make better buses, more effective routes, and extended hours of operation. Now for that light rail. How awesome would it be if we could hop on a train and go to San Francisco or LA right here from downtown Modesto!? With the rest of the cash we will build a downtown hub where you can catch a bus or train and start the building of a light rail connection to the Bay Area!
Here’s a public transportation system Modesto should model itself after!

After 5 long years of construction the downtown transportation hub is fully operational with more buses and extended routes. Now the buses cover virtually all of Modesto and the surrounding areas and run into the night. The best part is that the ground-breaking for the light rail is finally underway! The proposed station is under construction downtown right alongside the bus station and tracks are being constructed leading out of Modesto alongside Highway 99. I’ve been devoting lots of man hours myself in this project because I never want to have to worry about how I’m going to get around without a car!!
WOW! A quarter of a century and lots and lots of cash later Modesto has one of the most thriving transportation centers in the state. Hardly anyone drives now and people are using public transportation more than ever. Downtown Modesto has become a vibrant community with more businesses and money thanks to the light rail and the economic opportunities it has brought to the town.

Ok so Chani did some drawing this weekend between studying, walking about at the Architecture Festival, and volunteering to teach art to kids…..Here’s a nifty little sketch she did on the back of a postcard while inspired by Modesto’s commuting woes:

I used to commute to San Mateo for work and experienced my fair share of traffic. I also used to live in Oceanside and had to travel to Anaheim for work. Sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic early in the morning was driving people nuts. I only had to do it for a year and a half, but it was long enough for me.

It’s nice to see that Harrah’s Laughlin has added flights to the Modesto Airport schedule. This is convenient and a great way to go carless outside of Modesto.

ACT: Okay, as suggested, I tried to take a carless trip within Modesto over the weekend. Ooooo, never again. I was on my bike with my husband and it was just how I imagined it would be – I thought I was going to DIE. Modesto is definitely not designed for bikers. Taking this dangerous trip made me realize just how much I want Modesto bikeways to change.

My husband is a cyclist and hates the bike lanes here in Modesto. He would probably ride his bike more in town rather on the trail if they were better. This is one major obstacle to going car-free. We’ve thought about riding together for exercise and as a leisurely activity, but I’m afraid I’m going to get killed. This town isn’t that safe for bikers in my opinion. This needs to change. We need to develop a network of on and off bicycle routes.

My husband has experienced nice bike paths/lanes in other towns such as Palo Alto and Portland. He’s jealous of these communities and their safer routes for bike riders. Modesto needs to fix their bikes lanes that lead to nowhere. It’s just not safe for anyone.

If we’re trying to encourage car-free transportation, then we need to make sure our cyclists feel good about riding through town. I will get the city, people and local merchants together to improve our bikeways. This will hopefully encourage more people to bike rather than using cars. Our environment will improve due to less pollution and the community will hopefully become healthier.

The way our bike paths are now is a disaster. They just discourage riders from using their bikes in Modesto. I love going to a town and seeing riders. It would be so nice to turn Modesto into a safe community for cyclists. Biking is not looked at the same here. Like the blog, Carfree in Modesto pointed out, there is no logic to our bikeways. They are simply a waste of money and lead to danger.

To take care of the commuters, it would be nice to have some sort of transportation that allowed them to get to areas in California with ease. Carpooling is a great way to help pass the time and save on gas and pollution. I never knew anyone going the same way I was, but if I had, I bet carpooling would have been very beneficial.

IMAGINE: My goal was to make bicycling an everyday mode of transportation. It’s been 5 years and Modesto’s transportation issues have changed for the better. We are seeing more and more cyclists on the road. Families are riding together and our town has really come together to make the bikeways safe for everyone.

We liked Portland’s blue colored bike lanes. We added color to ours in Modesto for added safety. It is said that cyclists feel 50% safer using colored lanes. There has also been a 20% increase in motorists yielding for cyclists due to awareness and visibility. The gaps are no longer there and we have created a wonderful free-flowing route. Residents of all ages are able to walk and bicycle safely and comfortably in Modesto. We have been officially named a Bicycle Friendly Community!

I’m definitely not savvy when it comes to Photoshop, etc. so I created my own postcard with good ol paper, glue and water.

IMAGINE: In a perfect world, technology would have gotten to the point where matter transporters would have become a reality. That means carless transportation wouldn’t be just an alternative, it would be the norm! No more gross cars, driving all over the place, farting carbon monoxide and running over little old ladies and young college students with so much to live for. Nope, there’ll be no cars at all. What a glorious day. Then again, like everything else, the existence of poor people is really gonna ruin everyone’s fun. “Waaaaah, Freckles… what about the fringe members of society who can’t afford to use teleporters?! It won’t be faaaaaaair.” My answer to that is “you’re right. That’s not fair. It’s just as unfair as the current transportation system.” Not everyone’s got a car and it sucks to be those who don’t, but what can you do? Travel is definitely not one of your rights protected by the constitution. Basically, if you can afford a bus ride now, you can afford a matter transporter ride in my awesome future scape, with the added benefit of not having to interact with your disease ridden, mouth breathing fellow passengers! Oh joy.

ACT: Unfortunately, like poor people, reality will continue to be a buzzkill. As matter transporters have yet to be invented, they’re obviously out of the running for “possible solutions to Modesto’s transportation problem”. But you know what is definitely a possibility? Scooters. Like the almighty VESPA! They’re very inexpensive, even brand spanking new, and they get like 95 miles to the gallon! They even fit up to two people! Sure, they would replace the SUV for most big families, but it’ll cut down on that normal sight in Modesto: a huge god-forsaken SUV with only a tiny person driving it and maybe a base ball cap in the back seat. There are too many huge cars on the road and not enough people. Cut down on the traffic heavily by switching over to a scooter! Heck, for the cost of repairing your car’s engine, you can get a whole new scooter! Think about it!

Act: I would build a High Speed Rail System (original, I know) underground! And I can do this because I’m a badass millionaire. But until my project is completed people can ride their bikes, use public transportation, or carpool. I, myself, use a car to wherever I need to go. My older sister, however, HAS to take the bus wherever she goes, and with two small children, she finds it somewhat of a struggle. She sometimes has to wait a long time when transferring from one bus to another because the buses don’t do routes as often as they used to. My younger sister also took the bus for school. She didn’t like it because guys would bother her; she told me that one time she was harassed but decided to not tell. This made me pissed of course.

My banana peels help make the trains go faster! (and it poses no danger at all to the passengers…)

Imagine: My underground High Speed Rail System would connect most cities in the valley to one another or to other forms of public transportation like BART. This would make it faster and safer for people from Modesto to go to work or school. I will use my banana peels to make the trains (or whatever they’re called) go superfast! My rail system would be faster and more convenient than a car so people would choose it over driving. It will be environmentally friendly as well.

Act: First thing I would tackle is the bike paths. I know from personnel experience that if the bike paths aren’t functional most people aren’t going to use them. To save the city money I would use the apprenticeship program that I talked about in earlier blogs to get a workforce that’s already being paid, so the actual cost won’t be much larger than what were already spending. The second thing I would tackle is the public transit. I would replace it with an underground rail system using the same apprentice ship programs. the underground railway are much more efficient, than traditional busses.

Learn: with my awesome leadership super power I have gotten my projects completed. not only were thousands of people trained in the process, but the public transportation in Modesto has become way more efficient. Five years in the future my bike paths have been completed for three years. and car usage is down. in twenty five years my underground railways have been completed, and the car usage is way down, with the overall cost of transportation.

Act: To do my small part, I think we can convert the bus system to being hybrid buses. This will cut down on the smog and it will also save the bus companies money so that they can hire more drivers and get more buses, which will allow more people to take the buses. This can help cut down on the amount of cars and the smog levels.

Imagine: From hybrid buses, we can move onto hybrid taxis and more hybrid cars and possibly even hybrid planes. This will not only lower smog levels and cut back on expenses, it will also begin the reversal of global warming. With everyone travelling greener, more people are likely to spend their money on things that can help stimulate the economy.