Monday, February 25, 2008

Back from Texas

In my last posting (or is it blogging?) a week ago, I said that because I’d be leaving the following morning for a conference in Dallas, there would be little to comment on. But I’d fully expected in my mind, that the following week would be different. Then I’d be able to report how miserable the Dallas-Ft Worth public transport system was, especially when compared to what we enjoy in the Puget Sound area. Never having been to that part of Texas, this somber expectation had been created by descriptions of a colleague who had recently returned from there. Terrible, she reported, no one uses it or knows about it, or expects it to run on a schedule. Yes, I discovered, there is a serious disconnect in signage at the airport for those wanting to use public transportation. But once you get by that problem (contact me for information), the transport system works. The double-decked trains between Dallas and Ft Worth, the light rail trains and buses in those cities look newly minted, are clean and well patronized, just as good as in any well run transport system, like ours. So the message of this blog is not that we are so much better than Dallas-Fort Worth, but as good. Actually we’re probably better, but that assessment would have taken a longer stay down Texas way.

Wallace, Faculty

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