Kultur4

The collection of articles really brings into light how different a country like Germany is, when compared to the US. Only certain cities here are very invested in public transit. Washington DC and New York are two oft-cited examples of American cities with dedicated public transit. Detroit, a city where I spent a lot of time in recent years, is completely devoid of just about any kind of public transit, with the exception of an anemic bus program and a “people mover” that has stuck around as more of a joke than anything else.

In German cities, bikes are a big deal, and it makes sense. They’re cheap and clean, and can get a person from A to B deceptively quickly if there is room to bike (something not often provided in America; cities here often lack bike paths). German people may real sticks in the mud when it comes to the application of traffic rules, but that’s their prerogative, and to be honest there’s nothing wrong with it. I saw the other end of the spectrum while I worked in Detroit over the summer. J-walking is a non-existent crime, and one can cross the road whenever he or she feels the real need to. Good for them if they want to enforce cross-walks and bike path rules. Anything to slake their thirst for order and regulation, and channel it into a more constructive manner than has previously been done is probably great for everyone.

I don’t have any real experience with trains or subways, having been on the DC metro several times, and having ridden an AMTRAK twice. Again, I think it’s great the Germans love to keep order in their society; more power to them, I say. After reading these, I kind of want to walk around some places like Ann Arbor or Detroit with a German exchange student and see what he or she has to say,,,