Blogging
From Abroad

How many WVU students own a car? 90%? Or even more? At my university in Vienna, less than 10% have a car. So you might be wondering how we come to school or everywhere else. The answer is: public transport and bicycles. I know, it’s kind of unfair to compare Morgantown to Vienna, but even if I recognize the much lower population here, I think that public transport and non-car infrastructure could need some improvements. One thing I’m struggling with is the operating hours of buses and the PRT.

As far as I know, the PRT is an innovative transport system, allowing rapid transport throughout Morgantown hotspots. And it is operated automatically; meaning that human labour and thus the operating costs per passenger-mile is comparably cheap. So I can’t understand why it closes down so early on weekdays and doesn’t operate on Sunday at all. Neither do the buses, except a night bus system to bring home party-student safe.

So, honestly, I know why everybody has a car. Every weekend I depend on somebody else to drive me around. In Vienna, it is different. If I want to go somewhere, I can use the tram or the buses directly in from of our house, or – if I want to travel further – the trains, which have a frequent schedule. The only chance to get out of the city here is the Grey Line that goes to Pittsburgh and back once a day. Not really an attractive option.

Finally – bicycling. I use the bike in Vienna almost every day for five years. So I would describe myself an experienced urban biker. But here in Morgantown it is much harder and more dangerous to do so. First it is hard, because of the wavy landscape. But I can accept that and call it workout. What is harder to accept is the behaviour of car drivers when they’re exposed to bikers on the street. In Austria there is a rule, that if you pass by a biker, you have to leave a gap of at least 0,5m plus the speed divided by 10. Not that everybody abides to this, but people have an idea how to pass bikers. Here in Morgantown a car actually touched my leg (without any further incident or injuries) when passing me by on my second day on the streets. This didn’t happen to me within in five years in Vienna.

So I am a little intimidated by traffic here. But what should I do? I have to ride on the street, I can’t even switch to the sidewalk. Here is a picture of Van Voorhis Road, a street I pass every day on my way to school.

There are two things missing – sidewalks and street lamps. I mean, a bike lane would be nice as well but one shouldn’t demand too much at a time. But, honestly, this street desperately needs a sidewalk. Especially at night it is dangerous to hike uphill next to the lanes. And there are a lot of people walking there since this track connects the PRT-Station Medical with The Ridge and The District. So if anybody reads this who can influence the construction of sidewalks and lamps – please put the Van Voorhis Road on your list, for the sake of future students.