"I am proud to call myself a straphanger," writes Taras Grescoe. The perception of public transportation in America is often unflattering - a squalid last resort for those with one too many drunk-driving charges, too poor to afford insurance, or too decrepit to get behind the wheel of a car. Indeed, a century of auto-centric culture and city planning has left most of the country with public transportation that is underfunded, ill maintained, and ill conceived. But as the demand for petroleum is fast outpacing the world's supply, a revolution in transportation is under way. Grescoe explores the ascendance of the straphangers - the growing number of people who rely on public transportation to go about the business of their daily lives. On a journey that takes him around the world - from New York to Moscow, Paris, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Bogota, Phoenix, Portland, Vancouver, and Philadelphia - Grescoe profiles public transportation here and abroad, highlighting the people and ideas that may help undo the damage that car-centric planning has done to our cities and create convenient, affordable, and sustainable urban transportation - and better city living - for all.
- ISBN10 0805091734
- ISBN13 9780805091731
- Publish Date 24 April 2012
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 31 March 2016
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Times Books
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 320
- Language English