People who have cars commonly think of a car trip as somehow being free. They understand that a trip to the gas station is expensive sometimes, but the thought that hopping behind the wheel is a purchase each and every time they do it, that doesn't register every time.

What really costs you, though, is getting tied up in traffic. The motor is running to provide you with AC or heat, you might not need it to move the car except every now and then, but you always need the motor for AC or heat.

How much to keep the motor running for cool and heat and so you can move when you get a chance? In 2002 it was $625 per year per person according to a study published by SCOPE (Sarasota County Openly Plans for Excellence). That is about what two bus cards a month would have cost when the study was done.

We can't put a value on your frustration in traffic, though. In Sarasota the bus is even worse, you can get somewhere and not get back. The same SCOPE report said that only 2% of all transportation use is public, and at that time the public bus was "not a viable transportation option in most instances" .

Not viable? Our SCAT system? That is what the study said.

So what to do? I say we get ourselves a few local trains right now. One driver, three hundred passengers in the footprint of five cars. Then we get Neighborhood Shuttles, but that in another article.

We can start with the North rail corridor from the airport along Central Avenue to 10th street and turn down Orange Avenue to downtown. We could even stay all on the ground level on that run. Put a big parking lot and a loading platform at the airport. Yes, we would have to level the rails, but we need local jobs don't we?

Another train could run from the City Limits at Mc Intosh Road and Fruitville Road. If people think we can't afford to elevate it we can put that line on the surface as well. Put the Park and Ride on the golf course property. We might have to change the par on a couple of holes but the golfers have been looking a little bored sometimes anyway. Cut the line over to Ringling Boulevard when it gets to the Fairgrounds, and on to downtown. If we are really daring we can run that line over the causeway and bridge to the keys, and even have a Park and Ride near the Longboat Bridge.

Then we could have third line from another Park and Ride at, say, Shade Avenue and Bee Ridge Road to run down Osprey to downtown. Once again, this could be on the surface where it would take the space of five cars but could move three hundred people in that space.

Why would people ride this? To begin with, if it passed their home they could ride all year for what the gas and insurance on a car would cost and save the payment.

OK, I know we have to do better than that. That leads me to my next proposal: Neighborhood Shuttles!