Transportation Shift Quotes

The big change, the really radical change in communication, was in the late 19th century. The shift from sailing ships to telegraph is astronomical. Everything since then has been small increments, including the internet.

Car ownership as we know it will change. The promise of car ownership of the past, the freedom of open roads... the reality has been more of a burden.

The truck farmers, whose produce-laden wagons could formerly be seen at any time in great numbers stopping at the various road houses, now hurry over this portion of their cityward journey, or take other routes to avoid ‘them dern bicycle fellers.’... Bicycle riders, the road house keepers have found, are a better class to cater to than the vegetable raisers who drive to the city with their produce. Not only are their numbers greater, but they spend money more freely.... Hence they have altered the character of their hotels entirely. The names once so common of ‘Farmer’s Home,’ ‘Marketman’s Hotel,’ etc., have been supplanted by ‘Bicyclers’ Retreat,’ ‘Wheelman’s Rest,’ and similar names. Every hotel keeper has supplied himself with a foot pump and repair kit for the use of the wheelmen.

The car as we know it is on the way out.

I used to have go-karts and mopeds and motorcycles when I was a kid. Then my grandpa let me drive a real car at about 13 or 14 and I just... I never cared about bikes again after that.

At least inside the city of Seattle, driving is going to be a hobby in 2035. It's not going to be a mode of commuting the same way hunting is a hobby for some people, but it's not how most of us get our food.

Autonomous vehicles, because they'll be able to operate at a lower cost, will be able to pull more consumers into the Lyft network. And as you have more people switching from using their own car, they'll be taking more rides that still require a person behind the wheel.

Because, we assume, these days, you just get in a car, you turn the key, and woosh, you're up the road. Or even now, dare I say, you don't turn a key; you get in a car and you're up the road. And yet with this particular car, it was a five-step process to start it. So how do I let the reader know that?

I think water transport will see a revival. However, we're not going to replay the 20th century. The industrial city of that era will not be revived. Our cities are going to contract. Many of them will contract as a whole but densify at their core.

A world with a sudden limit on air travel would be tremendously different from the one we live in now.