🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <flh43.458$U4.13332@carnaval.risq.qc.ca>,
leguerrl@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Le Guerrier Louis-Luc) wrote:

> John McCarthy (jmc@Steam.Stanford.EDU) wrote:
> : leguerrl@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Le Guerrier Louis-Luc) writes:
> : 
> : > I live in a suburban area, I work downtown a large city, and I don't use
> : > a car. I prefer the train. Now we must work on railing some highways, and
> : > building more walking, cycling, and small local railways, to help us
> : > getting to the "main" railways that go downtown.  
> : > 
> : > We should focus on bicycle trailers, tricycles and other human vehicles
> : > to transport normal personal goods,, and
> : > use horses to carry heavy loads to/from the railways (to replace trucks).
> : 
> : Le Guerrier's proposal expresses a moderately widespread sentiment.  I 
> : would like to see it done experimentally at Government capital expense 
> : but without subsidy of running expenses.  Would a city of 100,000 suffice,
> : or does the idea require 500,000?
> : 
> : There could either be a new city built from scratch or an existing
> : city could be taken over for the experiment.  If the latter, the
> : inhabitants commuters from the suburbs who didn't like the new way of
> : life would have to be bought out.  I am one who wouldn't live or work
> : in such a city, but for a suitable price I would go away.
> : 
> : Horses take a lot of space, eat a lot of feed, and require a lot of
> : people to take care of them.  In the 1890s New York had 100,000
> : horses, but unless you drastically reduced the amount of goods used, a
> : larger number of horses per thousand people would be required.  
> :...

Not to mention the tonnage of horse manure they had to dispose of every
day!  This horse manure was one of the top breeding grounds for flies,
which spread diptheria, whooping cough and  a whole host of other
illnesses. By comparison, cars and trucks are immaculate!


> I suggest horses as a truck replacement, not as a car. Not everyone owns
> a truck, so not everyone would own a horse, since they can easily bike
> or walk to the railway for their everyday moves.
>  
> So there would still be less horses than there were in the 1800s.
> 
> 
> 
> Louis-Luc