Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.06.2007, Page 3

04_RVK_GV_ISSUE 09_007_LETTERS
The Grapevine has received this open letter to City
Council member Gísli Marteinn Baldursson, regarding
a story from our last issue on the current state of affairs
in Reykjavík’s public transportation system.
Dear Gisli Marteinn Baldursson
The public transport system in Reykjavík is a disgrace.
It doesnt work on any level, in any way, shape or form.
It is so bad it is almost laughable were it not such a
serious problem. I begrudgingly accept this as a fact of
living in Reykjavik and drive my Volkswagon mostly to
everywhere outside of 101.
However, the fact that you can calmly excuse the
complete failure and collapse of the public transport
system with gems like ‘price is not always the deciding
factor when it comes to using public transport’ and list
other very questionable influences on your decision to
again downgrade the bus service in Reykjavik in the face
of blinding evidence to the contrary infuriates me. It is
plainly, no, blindingly obvious to anyone from anywhere
that one of, if not the main reason this city is rapidly
turning from the centralized European community it once
was into a third rate Los-Angeles of 6 lane highways and
isolated kentucky-fried people is because the people who
should be expanding the public transport system and
nurturing the connection of communities within greater
Reykjavík are instead responsible for killing them.
-You should be introducing trams, that could run on
the ridiculously cheap and abundant clean electricity
available to us
-You should be already planning and building the blue-
prints for a major subway system (again, running on
clean electricity) to service the growing city in the com-
ing years
-You should be doubling the number of buses and
making them drastically cheaper and bringing people
back to it
-You should be fighting for ‘bus only’ lanes on all major
roads in Reykjavík to make the services not only at good
as, but BETTER and FASTER than using a car... and the
police force should then be fining the pants off drivers
who abuse them
-You should be THE guiding force in the planning of
this city
But you are doing none of these things.
You should be strengthening and connecting the
communities of greater Reykjavík, but instead, together
with the other geniuses behind the expansion of Mik-
labraut, Sæbraut and other major roads around Reykjavík,
you are carving up the city into increasingly isolated
communities, which inspite of the many extra lanes
are more congested than ever before. You are killing
the city and dividing it with (and I havent decided yet
which it is) plans to eventually obliterate public transport
completely and make sure everyone in Iceland is driv-
ing a Hummer OR whether it is just a complete lack of
foresight, intelligence and educated decision-making
inside the Icelandic government. I challenge anyone to
find another city in the world of 150,000 people that
has traffic jams and public health issues on account of
traffic pollution
For the readers who missed your rundown on all
the exciting changes to the completely useless Bus system
I will reiterate some of the highlights of your interview
with Grapevine
Problem: A 45% percent decrease in usage of the
public transport system
Your solution: Decrease services and make waiting times
for buses longer
Problem: Dramatic (read: ridiculous) increase over
the past few years in the number of cars in Reykjavík
Your Solution: Make the price of public transport high-
er
Problem: The budget for the public transport system
was running at risk of being overspent last year
Your solution: Cut services... and make the handful of
people who havent yet given up completely and bought
a car pay more for a less efficient system instead of
demanding a higher budget that meets the demands
of the taxpayers who are as you rightly say are actually
‘very happy to pay for it’.
Iceland is one of the most expensive cities in the
world, in every way except when it comes to park-
ing your car...it costs less to park a car for 5 hours on
Laugavegur than it does to take a Bus into 101, anyone
with a primary school education can see that this factor
alone is stopping people from using public transport. It
should be expensive to park your car, and the fines for
overstaying parking should actually mean something
substantial... 500kr for a parking fine is laughable...
If parking fines actually ‘hurt’ in Reykjavik the added
revenue would more than support an expanded public
transport system. Furthermore. Iceland is cold. Of course
nobody takes the Bus, anyone who has stood in a urine-
soaked shelter at 8am in the middle of January will tell
you 20 minutes is simply too long... We all learn our
lesson very quickly here in Reykjavík, you get a car, or
you get a ride, or you stay home.
You seem to base all these brilliant decisions of
yours on the opinions of those who currently use public
transport... and this is just the kind of backward think-
ing that makes me want to hurl great chunks of lava
through your office windows. Public transportation
in Reykjavik is currently used primarily by 3 groups
of people, the very young, the very old, and the very
mentally/and/or/physically handicapped... essentially
the only people in Iceland incapable of driving. If you
were really serious about making a system that works
you would undertake a citywide survey where you ask
the other 95% of the population why they dont use it,
the ones that drive cars... People like yourself and then
base your decisions on that. Unfortunately your empty
actions and your empty buses say far more about your
effectiveness than your cheap cheap words.
My favourite part of your interview with grapevine
was about how you are planning to put newspapers,
magazines and free internet on buses to entice us all...
WOW! Really! Amazing!!! Do you mean the free news-
papers that every person in Iceland has delivered to their
door? Do you mean ‘free’ internet on the buses that
cost 280kr? Are you serious? Do you honestly believe
giving us a copy of DV is going to temp a population
to fork out 280kr to wait outside for half an hour in
a blizzard, in the dark, for the privilege of sitting on a
slow, uncomfortable ride around the worst example of
modern city planning in the western world?
I dont think you are serious at all and i dont think you
honestly believe any of your plans are going to have a
positive effect...and that is precisely the point. You nor
anyone in your office would ever take a bus to work,
and you probably never have. Your efforts to encourage
people to use public transport is bare minimum at best
and at its worst it is blatant sabotage of a community.
You and the others in control of this aspect of our city
have done more harm than good and you should all be
ashamed of yourselves.
Sour Grapes
Say your piece, voice your opinion, send your letters to letters@grapevine.is.
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