If I were a U.S. Congressman, I would propose the following for no other reason than to cause a paranoid frenzy on the right. Then I’d point and laugh:
Helsinki, the capital of Finland, has a a plan that might make car ownership a thing of the past.
Which is not to say it would eliminate the need for riding in cars. Rather, Helsinki’s plan is to provide its residents with a smartphone app that can knit together all the different transportation options in the city — subways, buses, taxis, ferries, car sharing services, bike sharing services, etc — into one complete trip from Point A to Point B. Users would input an origin and a destination, and the app would plot out their trip, along with which modes of transportation they’d use, according to their preferences, their available time, the weather, and other variables. Payments could be structured in different ways — by the kilometer, by the trip, or as a monthly fee, for instance — but in every instance the user would be making one single payment via the app rather than paying for each mode of transport individually.
Essentially, it would be a one-stop-shop marketplace for transportation — similar to what Obamacare is trying to achieve for health insurance with its exchanges.
As a former urban dweller, of course I love this idea. Even today, I am quite accustomed to driving my car to the train station and taking the train to a subway and then taking a taxi or ferry to my final destination. In the process, I must buy gas, pay tolls, and pay for several fares. Why not make it one-stop shopping on my smart phone?
But, naturally, nothing could be less manly or red-blooded American than giving up my car and taking ferries (rhymes with fairies).
I await the Finnish invasion, and the inevitable right-wing emotional collapse in response.
