Decline and Transit

The Smart Fortwo, a new two-seater that has gained popularity in Europe, with an American version coming out for the 2008 model year. For more information go to SmartUSA.com. (Photo from Car and Driver magazine.)

The other day, I got into a lively discussion with "Sal" over personal transportation.

In the Philippines, private ownership of automobiles is no more unusual than it is here in the USA. However, at least in and around Metro Manila, not only is the traffic is as bad as any major American city, but the streets are narrower. So people usually always hire an on-call driver for their own car, even if they have a license.

It's a different story here, so she's had to learn to drive in the States.

She'll be getting her drivers license soon, and will have less call for her personal driver. (That would be yours truly.) Our discussion centered around what kind of car to drive. On top of the usual assumption that a man just has to tell a woman all she needs to know about cars (mea culpa, mea culpa...), she wants to get a big-@$$ American four-door. I made a case for a smaller car. She maintained that a car that holds little more than the driver is "selfish." Fortunately, we were on the Interstate going into town when this came up. I invited her to look out the window. Virtually every vehicle we saw, regardless of its size, held only one passenger.

This may have been what The Discalced Yooper saw as well, while being inspired to write a recent post entitled "Decline and Transit (I)." The Roman numeral suggests the beginning of a series. We can only hope...

"[O]ne of the more fascinating corollaries is the corrolary between middle class decline and the rise of private transport. Additionally, you see the poorer become poorer as you track the rise of private transport."

For any household with two cars, this writer would consider it prudent that one be large enough to hold the entire household and provide adequate comfort on long trips, while the other be as small as possible for singular use, especially when driving through town. The ability of the model illustrated to meet that need, makes it one to watch in the coming year.

But hey, that's just me.