Stockholm. A beautiful city with islands frequently on either side of your view with breaths of fresh air that is available and unlimited, and, most importantly, the transportation system is convenient and smart.
I have to say, the Stockholm’s SL trains are easy to spot, close to wherever you are and the journey is smooth and almost always on time.
The miles from the suburbs of Flemingsberg Station to Stockholm Centralen is 11 miles (17.8 km). The journey goes straight to the center within several stops. It takes about 15 minutes one way and it includes the view of the suburban/forest areas to the scene of Stockholm waters to the view of the City Hall. (By the way, the City Hall against the water takes my breath away almost every time I pass it on the train.) You’ll see where I’m going with this explanation, here is the route to give you a visual image:
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| Provided by Google Maps |
Now, to the point I want to get across to you, I want to show you my train system in San Jose and how crappy it is for the capacity of the growing city. Yes, there is a more developed train system in San Francisco, but with the large amount of companies and small businesses starting everyday in San Jose, more people are moving to the south bay to work with these newly start-up companies or with the big companies like Google, Yahoo!, Apple, Facebook, Ebay, Cisco, etc. Traffic can go on for hours during rush hours, people lose time with their family and friends, and rarely, can a person enjoy a cup of tea or coffee slowly and calmly.
The distance from my house to the center of my city is 6.5 miles (10.4 km). The view of the journey consists of many lanes on either side, freeway round-a-abouts, and more highways on either side (that is if I’m driving a car). It takes about 15 minutes to drive to downtown. Here is my route that I would be taking to get to the center of my city by car:
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| Provided by Google Maps |
I don’t use a car for several reasons but mostly because after coming from Stockholm, I’m scared of driving and I don’t like it. Also, my sister needs to use the car more than I do. On the plus side, I can read or think my brains out while saving the planet by being eco-friendly. Therefore, I bike to the closest lightrail station (VTA Lightrail is our train system) and then take the lightrail that drops me off downtown. Now, note that there isn’t a route that goes just across, the route is made to go all the way around!
Distance from my house to downtown on the light rail including the bike ride is 16.9 miles (27.2 km). It takes about 1.25 hours to get to the center. The journey takes you around the whole city, almost to the tip of the bay, and the view of the journey are many cars on either side waiting in traffic, the Great Mall, Cisco, more Cisco, Japantown, and finally to the center. Here is lightrail route:
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| Provided by Google Maps |
I’m not bashing on my lightrail system, the 1.25 hours on the lightrail really keeps me calm and I can do extra work on the way, but it does take 3.5 hours of my day and I come home exhausted.
To conclude this presentation, City of San Jose, please make the light rail train system as good as the Swedish one. It might be too optimistic, but I’ve seen highways that can perfectly fit railroad tracks in the middle. Optimistically, it can cut so much traffic and give us more time to enjoy a cup of coffee!
Traveling in her own city,
Dandelion Traveler
dandeliontraveler 