CONNECTING FROM “HERE TO THERE TO EVERYWHERE”

Dealing with mobility is the pre-eminent problem in City life. It is the one thing that brings us together or breaks us apart. Any new form of transportation advances our culture and brings us closer together. The word Intermodal maybe a new planning word applied to mobility. Modality is the quality of being modal. Modal meaning manner, measure or form.

In our search for the best intermodal location should it not be one that provides the ultimate place for getting on and off different clustered transportation systems in a focused geographical area? Thus using Intermodal for transportation intersections suggests an attempt to change from one form of transportation to another by foot, only hampered by the load of luggage we seem to want to carry. To achieve this complexity of transportation interchanges, is most difficult. It is much like herding ostriches on Tejon Ranch!

The title of my talk --- Here, There and everywhere is quite poetic!

FIRST – Let’s address “Here” means “in THIS place.” One rightly must assume that this place is somewhere in the greater Bakersfield downtown. Our desire is to bring together as many transportation systems we can conveniently locate adjacent to one another. Each transportation system represents a different class of mobility that can be defined in distance and time. Walking at 2-4mph we can cover the distance of a mile in about nine minutes. Bicycling at 10-15mph we can cover the distance of a mile in about five minutes. Motoring one can cover the distance of a mile in three minutes depending on the kind of roadway class one is sharing with others. Outide of waiting for a scheduled bus, we can cover distances similar to that of the car and cover the distance of a mile in about five minutes. The train can cover the distance of a mile in one and a quarter minutes. Although the fastest horse can cover a mile in one minute and 32 seconds, a stagecoach however has variable speeds and multiple rest stops.

SECOND – Let’s address the substance of “there” meaning “at THAT place most distant.” We all enjoy our own place and distance from one another. That place means the present location of home, work, school, church, recreation, shopping, and commerce and then for the most of us a final resting place -- the cemetery. Downtowns have congregated many different places together for our collective convenience. Our downtown mixes districts of financial, entertainment, commercial, governmental, ecumenical, educational, arts, housing, mixed-use, medical, vehicle parking with park and open-space connections for many proven convenient and comfortable reasons. As Bakerfieldians should we not ask visitors to also enter our downtown through this new gateway portal? The question to really ask ouselves is would we like our downtown to see visitors?

THIRD – Let’s address the substance of “everywhere.” meaning in “ALL places most distant.” Well to do this currently we sometimes choose to fly or take a cruise boat to China. Depending on our Meadow’s Field Airport services we can reach most places around the world. However the purpose of this talk is to secure our geographic station position for a future alternative means of reaching some our cities within the State of California better than we ever have been able to speed to directly before. This High Speed Ground Transportation System proposes to connect certain station locations together, like pearls on a string, offering remarkable speeds by covering the distance of a mile in 12 seconds. Imagine only 47 minutes or so to reach Los Angeles Union Station! This potential astounding service collapses time and distance that it normally takes to get from Sacramento--San Francisco to Los Angeles--San Diego and stations in between.

For the good of all the citizens of Kern and Bakersfield Metropolitan area, it is in our own self enlightened interest to build this transportation station in a place where it is most convenient, thus increasing further our wealth with commerce by fitting the location within our downtown. This considerable public/private investment is the best thing that could happen to redevelop our local downtown economy. The rightful place should be near to our government seat and business center.

This proposed station location should therefore connect our great variety of downtown districts, thus continuing our city building culture with pleasant human movement channels between all the present and familiar places for both our feet and the rubber tired machines that we use to get around. The downtown still represents our highest land values. It is the blue chip investment area. It has been and will continue to be the place to enhance in order to exhibit our unique urban culture.

Our challenge is to suggest one place where we should be able to most comfortably transfer from our feet to a bicycle, car, bus, train and high speed ground transportation vehicle, both to and from our downtown. The additional High Speed Ground Transportation Station is estimated to bring “Intermodal” interchanges of two million passengers per year from this new form of transportation to connect with all the existing transportation patterns we currently use. We should do this as efficiently as we can. When the station is located downtown the opportunity should create a windfall for all of us in Kern County and will present great value for more business and industry, together with added cultural amenities.

Remember the Wizard of OZ song “somewhere over the rainbow?” This station location downtown should be fixed somewhere to secure the promise of being at the end of that rainbow. If we all can agree to spot this location it should become a pot of gold for our metropolitan area.

BY Graham Kaye-Eddie – Master Urban Designer.

Makabusi Inc. – Bakersfield – California

Email – makabusi@pacbell.net

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