Straphanger Quotes

“The twentieth century was a horrible detour in the evolution of the human habitat. We were building more for cars’ mobility than children’s happiness. —Enrique Peñalosa, 2008”
― Taras Grescoe, Straphanger: Surviving the End of the Automobile Age

“America’s infinitely ramified rail network, whose veins and capillaries once reached into every small town in the nation, has shrunk to 100,000 miles, the same level as in 1881.”
― Taras Grescoe, Straphanger: Surviving the End of the Automobile Age

“For Peñalosa, TransMilenio was a crucial victory. “If, in a democracy, all citizens are equal before the law, then a bus with one hundred passengers should have the right to one hundred times more road space than a car carrying only one person. When a fast-moving bus passes cars stuck in a total traffic jam, it is an unconscious and extremely powerful symbol that shows that democracy is really at work, and it gives a whole new legitimacy to the state and social organization.”
― Taras Grescoe, Straphanger: Surviving the End of the Automobile Age

“* Engineers have had to invent a new category for the commuter trains of Mumbai, whose Western Railway Line is the world's single most crowded public transport corridor. When fourteen or more people are standing per square meter - above 275 percent capacity - the train has attained "Super Dense Crush Load." In Mumbai, of course, this means people are actually sitting on the roof and hanging out the open doors.”
― Taras Grescoe, Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile