The May 2002 Left Lane Article

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Driven

I have to say that I really like living in Regensburg a lot. This wasn’t true when I first moved here, however, as I came from a different mentality. When one grows up in Detroit, the Motor City, one thinks always on cars. There’s no way one can live in Detroit without a car. There’s no such thing as public transportation there, regardless of the commercials I see for the bus, nor do I think there will ever be.

Therefore, when I arrived in Regensburg, I thought in the same way—I have to use a car to get around. And that was my problem—you can’t get around Regensburg in a car. First of all, Regensburg is on the Danube (Donau in German). There are four bridges over the Danube, but one of them (Steinernebrücke) is only for buses, taxis, emergency vehicles and the occasional lost tourist. That makes the bridges congestion points for traffic.

Regensburg is also a dense city, like many other European cities. There are a lot of people living in a small place. That makes for very crowded driving during rush hours. I hate rush hour traffic, and German rush hour traffic even more so. That means that even though I only live a few miles (~3 mi.) from work, it can take up to 30 minutes to get home during rush hour. This is not my idea of driving.

The Secret of My Successful Stress Reduction

The key to getting around in German (and most of Europe) is public transportation. If you want to get around Paris, take the Metro; in London, the underground; in Regensburg, the bus. This can be a wonderful thing. Bus stops in Regensburg are well marked out, with maps of routes and schedules at many stops. Tickets are easy to get, and most buses run quite often during the business day. They run as late as midnight in Regensburg. The most I have to wait is 20 minutes on the way to work if I planned poorly.

While riding or waiting for a bus, I usually bring something to read, and maybe something to listen to. I’ve ready many Tom Clancy novels in winter when I ride the bus. It still takes me over 30 minutes to get to work, but now I don’t mind as someone else is worrying about the traffic. My biggest concern is just remembering not to get so engrossed in my book that I miss a stop.

By taking the bus on cold or rainy days, and riding my bike on nicer days, I’ve cut down on both my driving and my stress level. I’ve driving less than 5,000 miles a year in this way, and most of that driving was for my vacations in France.

The American Way

It’s really too bad that American cities are not designed with public transportation in mind, but then again, neither were European cities. On some of the streets in Regensburg were buses drive, I’m not sure if I can drive my car through them, let alone the buses. It’s not really the cities themselves that are a hindrance to public transportation, I think it’s the mindset of Americans. When I think of how many people I used to see driving alone in the morning in the urban sprawl we call the Detroit Metro area, I just thought it to be a waste. Of course, I was driving alone myself (mostly because people have an unnatural fear of being my passenger).

I think Detroit may be an extreme example for American cities, though. Many cities have at least a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, where Detroit doesn’t. Many of these HOV lanes are not too crowded, but at least cities are trying to give incentives to carpool. Not so in Detroit.

Having the Big Three (GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler) headquartered in Detroit probably doesn’t help either. Heck, they help me put food on the table. Then there’s the urban sprawl in Detroit, as people keep moving further and further from the heart of the city. Many people drive 45 minutes on average to work. It’s hard to get public transporation to go out that far.

And so, while people in Detroit sit motionless on I-75 or the Southfield freeway, I will continue to enjoy reading my novels. Now if only Clancy will write a new one.

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