After I skimmed Krista's Visceral Appeal of Public Transit...? , I gave her a call -- I had been away for couple of weeks but had been following her blog from afar. We talked about various issues about blogging, and I encouraged her (as I hope to here) to keep up the writing. Although I won't be able to respond thoughtfully to everything she's writing, I'm reading her blog. Much of what she is sharing might not elicit an immediate response; some piece might judge lodge in my mind until weeks or months later only to come together with a disparate observation or idea. But what Krista is writing will help us immersed in our car-dependence to see into the personal angle of living in a different and free way.

I do, however, want to jot a make a few points in response to Krista's post -- some of which arose during my own bike ride to and from church today. First, a quote from Krista:

The fact is, public transit actually does appeal to me on a visceral level (as do bicycling and walking)--and that's something that I wish I could convey better to others. The absolute luxury of having someone else deal with the driving and traffic (not to mention maintenance and liability) while I read, write, sleep, pay bills, or talk to a friend--sometimes seems like a kind of miracle. My survival instinct also kicks in here--I feel a lot safer in a train, on a track, than amidst hundreds of unpredictable independently moving high-speed vehicles (not to mention my own car's mechanical unpredictability)--and statistics bear out this instinct. The exhiliration of riding a bicycle, the relaxed pace of walking--these things also appeal to me on a deep emotional and physical level.

Today is another glorious summer day in Berkeley, an absolutely lovely time to bike. As I pedaled my way home today, felt the soft breeze on my face, watched a young couple holding hands on the street, I wondered whether I had ever seen TV commercials that tried to capture what I was feeling right then. Perhaps car fanatics will disagree -- but I find biking a much more connecting experience than driving -- joining me to the elements and to other human beings. All those car ads (I have in mind images of a SUV serenely rounding the bend on a country road, absolutely alone) seem much more farfetched than an ad I can imagine celebrating the joy of cycling. (Imagine this: Happy cyclist in moderate physical condition with broad smile, soaking in the sunshine, pedling past gardens, trees, other happy people, little contented children -- bonded together in a great human community. Cuts to cyclist arriving at home, "glowing" from the ride and from the knowledge that he or she has not only gotten good exercise without adding any noxious fumes to the air. OK -- I would make a terrible ad man....) Why aren't there more ads that touch on the visceral appeal of cycling? (How does BART advertise? Does Critical Mass advertise? How?)

And we haven't even talked about walking yet....