ADJUSTING BIKE GEARS

Taunusbahn, old and new train, Betzdorf 01.08..2009

NEW TRAINS
I wrote critical words about private railways. I used a scene picture of an arriving oldie from the Taunusbahn. Indeed the one right on the picture. The sample of this is not the way to go private

LEASSONS LEARNED?
Taunusbahn has learned her leasons; to write it up in project terms. And orderd new trainsets. The one left. This kind of trains are a good investment to service a comfortable train on rural and local tracks. This is the way to do it.

CUT COSTS ON MAINTENANCE?
Honestly Taunusbahn has more lessons to learn. I saw first the other front. It was totally filled with grafitti.Good grafitti work. So I wondered for some seconds if it was design. No it was it, as it was also painted over windows and had some paint mistakes. Clean it up then?

CONCESSION SYSTEM FAIR?
Of course cleaning up but that cost money. So I think Taunusbahn in general try to manage the job on a very rural track here. I dont know what they have paid in the tender to achieve this consession. It does not give the rights to cut cost on maintenance (Such as the grafitti) or try to invest in old iron.

POLITICS BACK TO THE 19TH CENTURY?
I have confidence they can do much better as showed here on a saturday in august but dont feel the need to controle it. For all who thinks I blame the Taunusbahn, let me say this. It is not there fault that railways get libralized again, just as in the 19th century. They are chained by the consessions as set up by government. The direction in that is to prove railways can be served better and cheaper. A what cost is the question? Taunusbahn took the opportunty but this shows it is a hard deal to do it. I am sure they will give theire best, The sample is of course the new ordered trainset right.

COMPLEX RAILNETWORK
I have my doubts on the long terms for many private tracks. I dont gonna say DB has to do it again, as these can do much better in there role to connect regional, national and international. The small local tracks can be a smart part in the complex network of railways. at the end it can only function if the complete network is cooperating including with bus, cars and bicycle. On that aspect this: The time table here seems to add at these of the Regional Bahn. There is also a good bus station at Betzdorff.

CONNECTION TO OTHER TRANSPORT CAN BE BETTER
Now the critics. DB has opportunities to take a bicycle in the train. Good for tourist. Here in this area, the local government invest heavily in bicycle routes. However Taunusbahn can transport the bike but does not have special place for it. That is not a problem now, as the bike paths are not ready everywhere in the region. So it can come.

Worse is however a figure what I have seen every where in Germany. The possibily to drop the car at a station and take the train in the commuting traffic. There are simply not many parking places. Weird? no ! On the TV I saw berlin policeman working on zero tolerance even not allowing a car to stop for half a minute to give an 80 year old with a rollator the chance to walk in to the station. That is not good.

LACK OF PARKING PLACES, NOT ANY CAR CAN ENTER A CITY!!
So look good around, not many German stations has many parking places. Very weird if you know that many big cities dont accept all cars but only clean ones. Good for the environment. In that case: How to connect car with train? In this specifc case: the city of Koln is at commuting distance (!h 20 minutes) and apart from the green car policy, Koln centrum is of course not the easiest place to park a car.

BUSINESS UNITS IDEA BLOCKS DEVELOPMENT
This brief story makes clear that things work out but lot has to be done. I dont think such responsiblity can be taken by companies only do a small part, named local train traffic. The concession model with only business models will block developments in connecting other systems (business units), simply because it is out of scope and therefore out of budget.

RISK "DEVELOPMENT IS OUT OF SCOPE"
Local, national and european governments can tend not to spend a dime on it, cause the business units has to deal in there scope only. This function if every part has to do the same job.It disfunctions if change is required. Needed is a modern network of public transports, from the smallest villages to the biggest cities, connetcting international. I dont think the role of the car will be over, but the "free mobility" concept of the 20th century, as motor for people to use the car, has reached its limits and there is simply more transport needed.

SOLUTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENT
The social question of the 21th century is environment, requiring not thinking in fragments but in complete and complex transport issues; where the train has to be a main tool to transport to cities and international. The good side for busiiness. It guarantuees trains, also local, htat means business. It makes new business. How about for example building par

this is a sunset from on top of a set of monkeybars, an elementary school playground near my house that i spent hundreds of nights at, spent hundreds of kisses at, several hundred conversations and fireworks and photos and walks and strangeness
it's not my place anymore, it's been renovated and belongs to the kids that are here now, graffiti on the slide of bad words and anarchy clip art symbols that kids see inside pop punk cd cases, nofx and anti-flag
i felt creepy, being there
i'm 20, which isn't old but old enough to feel awkward around little kids i don't know with a camera, with a camera on a playground
surrounded by little kids playing and shouting at each other
giggles
i left immediately and watched the sunset from my bike the whole way home, nearly crashing into a tacky mailbox with deer faintly painted on the side


the library is my second home these days
i'm observing all the workers and learning their names and watching the way people operate inside
my favorites are the workers, and then the gothic teenagers in black parachute pants with chains and dark lipstick and eyeliner that hang out on the curb outside with nowhere to go
waiting for their mom to pick them up after highschool
soon they will discover marijuana and sex if they haven't already, they probably have already, and probably music beyond system of a down and saosin
they look at me awkwardly and scoff at my bike. today i waved and said hi, how's it going?
one of the boys said, nothin, how are you doing PeeWee Herman? and crack up. i crack up with them, what a silly thing for a highschool kid to call anyone. i stand there with my water bottle and blue cardigan and neat backpack full of books and cds, a movie or two zipped up in the front pocket. media media media, word sounds sights, i spend an hour there almost everyday, a half hour getting there every day. it's my favorite place here.


"the more you know who you are and what you want, the less you let things upset you"