Kultur4 - Joe Oliver

Ich finde die Kultur articles für transportation/public transportation sehr interessant. Ich komme aus ein Stadt mit nur Autos, aber in Ann Arbor ich fahre Rad und Bus. So going between these zwei Städte, ich notice the differences in the way die Städte operate. Ich liebe Ann Arbor am Redford (mein hometown) denn it is easier, "greener," and actually sometimes faster to get around. When I'm home, it's shocking how far away things are because it is assumed wir haben ein Auto. In Ann Arbor, everything is very close together because fewer people drive. But that ends basically as soon as you are out of the downtown areas. Even in meinen Wohnung (which is almost in Ypsilanti), more people have cars and stuff is farther apart. When I walk through the lot to the bus stop, Ich muss walk down a car path in the parking lot und avoid cars. There are still problems mit the public transport in Ann Arbor but I find it much preferable. Reading the Kultur articles, it seems Deutschland has it more figured out than we do here.

The bike baths in die Straße in Ann Arbor are inconsistent and not clearly marked, so ich liebe hören that the ones in Deutschland are color coded or otherwise differentiated from footpaths/roads. I even looked it up to see what the article meant and found this. Another petty problem with getting around Ann Arbor is the so called "Zebra crosswalks" (as the Deutsch Kultur article sagt). They're pretty decent here aber it is sometimes frustrating both when walking and when driving. Significantly fewer than "999/1000" drivers seem committed to slamming on breaks and giving pedestrians the right of way. And pedestrians, aware of this and unsure if the car will let them go,  end up playing a de facto game of chicken sometimes with cars. I wonder if this is a result of Deutschland making it less easy to get your Führerschein. I'm not sure about other states but meine Fahrschule was sehr easy and did not explain many traffic laws.

The "honor code" on trains seems intimidating but I sort of like it. It reminds me of the busses in Ann Arbor. The AATA busses make you scan your MCard to get on (for Universität Studenten) but Blue busses don't check at all. I've been on many an AATA bus that gets behind when a lot of people are getting on and there are problems scanning the MCards. The blue busses run wie clockwork, often they are ahead of schedule. It seems more efficient to set up the honor system, even if it's intimidating for people new to it. All you have to do is follow the rules and you're fine.