欧宝娱乐

“(Regarding the Roosevelt Tram along Queensboro Bridge):

"They had it renovated by the French. French cars. French cables. Cables that surrender! Would you ride in a tram that surrenders? I sure as hell wouldn't!”
― Camilla Monk, Beating Ruby

“Hoping to settle the wheelchair matter once and for all, Graham dragged his chief of construction, his chief of architecture, and a film crew out to Dulles Airport, whose escalators were approximately the same width as those planned for Metro. There he produced a variety of braces and crutches. As the cameras rolled, Graham rode up and down the escalators using one aid after another, climaxing by riding both directions in a wheelchair, facing up each time. Graham clearly believed he had proved beyond doubt that 'it is entirely possible, easily and safely, for wheelchair travelers to use escalators.' His aides watched in disbelief; a fit and fearless major general in his fifties hardly represented the disabled population, whatever braces he strapped to his legs. All he had proved, concluded the WMATA architect Sprague Thresher, was that 'if everybody who had to use a wheelchair was Jack Graham, we wouldn't need elevators.”
― Zachary M. Schrag, The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro

“In one extreme case, WMATA planner William Herman complained that the system's main transfer station was badly named. He argued that '12th and G' was both confusing (several entrances would be on other streets) and too undistinguished for so important a station. Ever reasonable, Graham agreed to let Herman choose a better name. 'I'll let you know,' responded a relieved Herman. 'No,' Graham explained, 'I'll give you twenty seconds.' Stunned, Herman blurted out the first words that came into his head: 'Metro Center.' 'Fine, that's it, go on to the next one,' replied the general. And they did.”
― Zachary M. Schrag, The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro

“Developing new neighborhoods without rapid transit would be like building a forty-story office tower without an elevator.”
― Philip Mark Plotch, Last Subway: The Long Wait for the Next Train in New York City

“Beyond a critical speed, no one can save time without forcing another to lose it. The man who claims a seat in a faster vehicle insists that his time is worth more than that of the passenger in a slower one. Beyond a certain velocity, passengers become consumers of other people鈥檚 time, and accelerating vehicles become the means for effecting a net transfer of life-time.”
― Ivan Illich, Energy and Equity

“When a stretch of Eye Street was finally ready, he had the barricades gracefully opened by two trained bears on loan from the circus. As a result, both Metro and the circus got good press. Even then Pfanstiehl could not please everybody; a labor representative berated him for giving work to nonunion bears.”
― Zachary M. Schrag, The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro

“People like to talk a lot of shit about the MTA, but it鈥檚 really an amazing system, when you think about it. The trains run twenty-four hours. It serves something like four million people daily. Over a billion rides a year. And it does a pretty good job staying on schedule. Yeah, it could be a little cleaner, but it鈥檚 not so bad.”
― A.D. Aliwat, In Limbo

“Taken in the mass, the automobile is a noxious mechanism whose destiny in workaday urban use is to frustrate man and make dead certain that he approaches his daily occupation unhappy and inefficient.”
― Neal Shaw Blaisdell

“She's carrying a backpack, not a suitcase, and this really is how she becomes Aisha.”
― David Chariandy, Brother

“The greatest environmental gains from population density arise once destinations become so close to one another that people elect to get around all by themselves - the urban-transit equivalent of the point at which a nuclear chain reaction becomes self-sustaining.”
― David Owen, Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability

“Rather than create a city where all residents would be within walking distance of rapid transit services, officials built one where all residents would be within a short drive from a highway.”
― Philip Mark Plotch, Last Subway: The Long Wait for the Next Train in New York City

“The cost of the first phase was astronomical because of 1) inefficient phasing and high real estate costs, 2) powerful unions earning high wages and dictating costly work rules, and 3) regulations and environmental sensitivities.”
― Philip Mark Plotch, Last Subway: The Long Wait for the Next Train in New York City

“Much of the signal system was installed in the 1930s and transit employees now have to fabricate their own replacement parts for obsolete equipment. While subway riders have to rely on this century-old technology, New York's automobile drivers take advantage of traffic signals that are part of a sophisticated information network. Above the streets, the city's Department of Transportation monitors data from sensors and video cameras to identify congestion choke points, and the remotely adjusts computerized traffic signals to optimize the flow of vehicles. Drivers obtain accurate, real-time traffic condition information via electronic signals, computers and smartphones.”
― Philip Mark Plotch, Last Subway: The Long Wait for the Next Train in New York City