This is a bit of an odd article. I grew up in South Africa, which is very similar to the US in terms of how much you need a car to get around. There is some form of public transport but I would never advise using it if you value your life. I've also now spent several years living in Europe where public transport is great. So I completely agree about the importance of public transport and the benefit it gives people. But, the ability to do anything about that is far beyond the organising team of a furry convention, which makes most of the article seem fairly pointless.
It also seems to switch back and forth between two separate issues without clearly distinguishing them; local public transport and easy transport between cities. Transport between cities, whether by planes, trains or automobiles, is going to be a much bigger portion of transport cost to the extent that the local situation almost doesn't matter if you are from out-of-town. And the potential solutions a convention could offer for transport are almost completely ineffective at that scale. To a certain extent, I think you can afford to get to a different city for a convention, you can afford to deal with the local transport.
Carpooling and convention-sponsored busses are not bad ideas though. I do, however, feel that they are situational. For instance, at some of the Lakeside Furs conventions, which are usually out in very small towns, carpooling is organised between the convention and the local train station because there is no other convenient way to get there. An urban convention might have a specific bus to visit local hotels, particularly in the morning and evening, and that would be a cool idea. That can't be personalised without the costs becoming prohibitive again and dropping off at a central location will again leave them at the mercy of the local public transport system.
I will also that there's a completely unnecessary mention of race in the article. It serves no purpose and doesn't further any argument. What's worse is that race is merely being used as a crude proxy for wealth when you could omit race and directly mention wealth which is what is actually important.
Conventions are expensive and that's unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. Some of the way this article is written makes it sound like every needs to be able to attend a convention. They are great and it would be nice if people had the opportunity to go, but they are also luxuries which only a minority of furs attend. Strangely enough, what is not mentioned are the cheaper alternatives. Local furmeets exist to provide social activity while being much cheaper, even free depending on the activity.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
This is a bit of an odd article. I grew up in South Africa, which is very similar to the US in terms of how much you need a car to get around. There is some form of public transport but I would never advise using it if you value your life. I've also now spent several years living in Europe where public transport is great. So I completely agree about the importance of public transport and the benefit it gives people. But, the ability to do anything about that is far beyond the organising team of a furry convention, which makes most of the article seem fairly pointless.
It also seems to switch back and forth between two separate issues without clearly distinguishing them; local public transport and easy transport between cities. Transport between cities, whether by planes, trains or automobiles, is going to be a much bigger portion of transport cost to the extent that the local situation almost doesn't matter if you are from out-of-town. And the potential solutions a convention could offer for transport are almost completely ineffective at that scale. To a certain extent, I think you can afford to get to a different city for a convention, you can afford to deal with the local transport.
Carpooling and convention-sponsored busses are not bad ideas though. I do, however, feel that they are situational. For instance, at some of the Lakeside Furs conventions, which are usually out in very small towns, carpooling is organised between the convention and the local train station because there is no other convenient way to get there. An urban convention might have a specific bus to visit local hotels, particularly in the morning and evening, and that would be a cool idea. That can't be personalised without the costs becoming prohibitive again and dropping off at a central location will again leave them at the mercy of the local public transport system.
I will also that there's a completely unnecessary mention of race in the article. It serves no purpose and doesn't further any argument. What's worse is that race is merely being used as a crude proxy for wealth when you could omit race and directly mention wealth which is what is actually important.
Conventions are expensive and that's unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. Some of the way this article is written makes it sound like every needs to be able to attend a convention. They are great and it would be nice if people had the opportunity to go, but they are also luxuries which only a minority of furs attend. Strangely enough, what is not mentioned are the cheaper alternatives. Local furmeets exist to provide social activity while being much cheaper, even free depending on the activity.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~