One of the joys in my life is when you readers respond to what I write.
It means I've hit a nerve. It means I've gotten you thinking. It means you're paying attention and that you care about the great issues of our time. It means I'm not just talking to myself. It means I'll be able to make the mortgage payment for at least another month.Often as not, it means you think I'm seriously misinformed and must be set straight, but I like those letters almost as much as I do those praising my astute grasp of the situation.
Most important of all, when you respond to a column it means I have something to write about in the next one.
This is one of those times.
When last we gathered together on this page for our Monday chat, I offered the view that while the new light-rail train system -- set to begin choo-chooing up and down the valley on Dec. 4 -- is a wonderful thing, it's probably better suited to your daily commute than mine.
I may have even hinted that it would be a cold July day in St. George before I'd park my car in favor of TRAX, also known as The Little Engine That Could.
While some appreciated the light-hearted tone I used to describe my media test ride on TRAX, others did not. Some take their public transportation very seriously and will abide no mockery by cretin car guys like me.
Take P.H., for instance (we'll use initials in lieu of names because these folks may not have been writing for public consumption). P.H. sent an e-mail admonishing me that many people need an alternative way to get to work. She said it was "not one of my better articles" and that she hoped my sarcasm was intended to get people like her to respond in defense of public transportation. (It wasn't, but I'm glad it did.)
P.H. was "dismayed" by my "small-town attitude," noting that in Portland, Ore., where she grew up (and which is often cited as the model for Salt Lake's new light-rail system) residents were originally against public transit but now embrace it.
P.H. says my TRAX column ignored students, the elderly, prohibitive parking costs and lower-paid employees "who simply need an excuse to leave work on time rather than be forced into a couple of hours overtime."
I plead guilty to all but the parking costs; I mentioned those in the column.
P.H. concludes that even when she was a child, Portland's public transit was better than Salt Lake's because it offered crosstown bus service.
"You can't get there from here anywhere in the (Salt Lake) Valley without going downtown first," she wrote. "Someone needs to consider that not all businesses are downtown."
D.W., on the other hand, thought I got it right in my assessment of TRAX.
"My sentiments exactly," she wrote. "Except I live in Centerville with little or no hope of ever seeing a decent trip downtown."
Nor does J.H. eagerly await the startup of TRAX next month. In fact, he says, TRAX will convert him from taking the bus to driving his car to work.
J.H. has been commuting from Sandy to downtown on UTA Route 46. He says he can walk a half-block to catch the northbound bus at 9600 South running north and, "without interruption," be deposited 50 minutes later in front of his downtown office building.
Alas, after TRAX starts running, J.H. says he will have to catch a southbound bus at the same stop, then go south and west to the 10000 South TRAX station, where he will take the train to town, stopping 17 times (his italics) before being dropped off 1 hour and 15 minutes later a block and a half from his office.
"After 18 years of using mass transit on an almost daily basis, I will abandon this 'improved' mass transit system, buy another car and drive the freeway to work," he wrote.
Finally, C.L. corrects my assertion that "real men" like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood never use public transit. He gleefully reminded me that in the film "In the Line of Fire," Eastwood, playing a Secret Service agent, turns down a ride in the president's limo in favor of taking the bus, declaring "I love public transportation."
E-mail max@desnews.com or fax 1-801-236-7605. Max Knudson's column runs each Monday.