Dec

4

Sprawl’s affect on Baby Boomers

December 4, 2007 | 12 Comments

As we start the holiday season at sunset today–a time usually spent with family–a story in today’s USA Today highlights the effect sprawl can have on the transportation dilemmas faced by many families: aging parents who no longer drive.

Going home for the holidays may bring cheer and joy to many but a harsh reality for others: Their parents are too old to drive.

As the oldest of the nation’s 79 million baby boomers turn 61 this year, the specter of aging and its consequences loom large. Boomers may be worrying about their parents now but know they may experience similar challenges someday.

Mentioned is our sprawl-loving neighbor, Olathe, KS, and what they’re doing to assist older folks who don’t drive.

While not everyone is in the situation where their parents need their assistance, stories like these should still make them pause and wonder what they’ll do when they need to get to the doctor or grocery store and they can’t drive to do it.

Categories: Transportation


Comments

12 Comments so far

  1. anthony on December 4, 2007 7:56 pm

    Leave it to the “super ME” generation to be so stinking self-absorbed and stupid to fail to plan for this. They continue to buy bigger houses that they don,t need and buy them away from the services they’ll need the next 20 years

  2. Greg Breeden on December 4, 2007 11:53 pm

    How far from the city, in miles, would sprawl start?

  3. Jim S on December 5, 2007 12:12 am

    Actually the first thing that occurs to me is the show that was on the Science Channel (I believe.) called FutureCar. One of the way out there concepts was the “Nanny Car”, a self-driving vehicle designed to be extremely safe so that the children could be sent to school in it. Self driving electric vehicles for seniors a decade or two down the road could be a pretty good solution.

  4. Joe Valentine on December 5, 2007 7:51 am

    I am already planning for retirement in Chicago, largely because their mass transit system will allow me to remain independent after I can’t drive anymore. I was really hoping I would have this option here in KC, but it doesn’t look promising. Our bus system is barely usable, and many of the services like doctors and stores have moved out beyond the reach of the bus.

  5. Tim on December 5, 2007 2:25 pm

    The bus system in KC is a LOT better than most people think it is. Wanna see really bad public transit? Check the websites for the transit systems in Oklahoma City (pathetic) or Richmond, VA (non-existent). These are but two examples. For KC’s population density, we’ve got a decent system.

  6. ChrisM70 on December 5, 2007 3:10 pm

    Decent system… compared to systems that SUCK!

    Our transit in KC needs to get a LOT better.

    Let’s get that rail goin’, Funk!

  7. Tim on December 5, 2007 7:33 pm

    If more people used it, it would get better fast. I was on the KCATA advisory board all last year, and everything boils down to funding and demand. I agree it could and should be better, but believe me there are a LOT of cities where it’s much worse. In OKC for example, nothing runs after 6:30 p.m. and during the day most of them only run every couple of hours! And they’re old, dirty and on their last leg. And Richmond, with over 700,000 population (not counting burbs) literally has nothing.

  8. Joe Valentine on December 5, 2007 9:29 pm

    Tim you are comparing the KCATA with bus systems in smaller metro areas. If compare KC with similar sized cities then we come out at the bottom.

    But the state of our bus system is directly tied to the funding. KC has one of the lowest rates of transit funding, and we obviously get what we pay for.

  9. Tim on December 6, 2007 11:04 am

    I recently a group of people from Columbus, Ohio who were using transit here, and they were (slightly) impressed. Richmond and OKC both have comparable populations to KC.

  10. bob berdella on December 6, 2007 3:22 pm

    It’s ‘effect,’ sweets.

  11. anthony on December 6, 2007 10:27 pm

    we also have better sewers than venice and less crime than philly or detroit!!!

  12. Baby Boomer Jerry on February 20, 2008 3:10 pm

    If you live in Chicago soon CTA rides will be free for those 65+

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