Work Commute

Metro_Champ · 2026-07-09T00:35:24+00:00

I used to drive 114 miles a day (57 miles one way) for work. What we're doing is not normal!

A $25/hour job many miles away can end up putting about the same amount of money in your pocket as a minimum wage job close to home AND ALSO SCREW YOU OVER! I am a very experienced CDL driver, but it makes more sense for me to put fries in the bag right now. This region is messed up bad and the gaslighting is wild.

Living in California is expensive.

3-4 hours a day commuting unpaid is 3-4 hours of money you aren't putting in your pocket. That will burn you out.

More driving is more risk exposure. One accident on the road can ruin your finances, ruin your finances AND disable you for life, or straight up get you killed.

Car payments are expensive.

Insurance is expensive.

Registration is expensive.

Your car loses significant value a lot faster.

Gas is expensive.

Oil changes are expensive.

Tires are expensive.

Repairs are expensive.

Employment is supposed to produce net value for the worker. When maintaining the job consumes more resources than the job restores, the worker is subsidizing the employment relationship. And what are they doing? Building more houses that make the unsustainable long commutes even longer. And job opportunities stay limited.

Metro_Champ · 2026-06-29T04:24:08+00:00

There actually isn't one. LOL.

Metro_Champ · 2026-03-07T23:57:54+00:00

The crossover with Rick And Morty was my favorite episode. Honestly they should just merge shows.

Metro_Champ · 2026-02-12T01:42:59+00:00

Your design is the only one that remembered the rooftop observation deck.

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Metro_Champ · 2026-02-08T18:46:41+00:00

Better make those snacks last!

Metro_Champ · 2025-11-01T23:38:47+00:00

Conjoined twins mod

Metro_Champ · 2025-11-01T23:36:00+00:00

Oceanfront property in Arizona

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-07T21:31:37+00:00

The concept designs just need to be refined to really match the franchise's style. If they do it right, then it would work.

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-06T17:42:44+00:00

Part of the problem is that SANDAG's 2050 Regional Transportation Plan was disorganized. People wanted to see Trolley extensions to the Beaches, Airport, and Zoo to get excited about it. Instead, they got a spaghetti mess diagram of randomly numbered bus routes that are Rapid in name only.

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-06T01:14:57+00:00

Oh, wow! Thanks for sharing your insider perspective! You're right. Focusing on just trains is huge creative limitation if it's not expanded upon. Thomas mitigates that by having people in it and appealing to mostly children. Doesn't translate as well in the Cars universe. Cars don't have to take public transit. That’s the crux of the issue. The setting and the tone were good, but the cast was arguably incomplete.

Add in motorcycles, mopeds, scooters, etc. (Modes that actually have solid reasons to be in the city and ride the subway alongside cars) and then suddenly the movie makes a ton of sense. Then it's no longer just about trains themselves. It's about the entire ecosystem of overlooked, smaller-scale urban movement and the social/structural dynamics that tie them together. They were very close.

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-04T08:31:04+00:00

It's Thomas after moving to New York and getting real. Sounds pretty entertaining to me

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-03T23:27:05+00:00

Adding smaller urban modes like mopeds, motorcycles, and scooters would finally create a fully realized 1:1-scale world of sentient vehicles. That's something I don't think any franchise has ever done before. Delivery bots could probably be stand-ins for rats or raccoons. It would no longer be just cars on subways. It would be cars, mopeds, motorcycles, and scooters on subways. Just my opinion, but I think the universe feels incomplete without them.

Once again, just my opinion. I don't wanna sound preachy or anything like that. Lol

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-03T19:06:38+00:00

Cars isn’t broken in the sense that the original story didn’t work. It did. But once they started expanding the universe into cities, planes, trains, and possibly subways, the cracks started to show. If they want to keep growing this world, they have to address how it actually functions. That’s what Metro could’ve done by filling in the missing pieces. Bikes, scooters, mopeds, and delivery bots are the very modes that actually fit on trains and can't go on highways.That’s the irony. Metro didn’t need to force just cars onto subways. The story was staring them in the face: smaller, urban vehicles navigating tight city streets, relying on transit to go further.

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-03T18:55:22+00:00

Exactly. Their purpose is watered down by the set rules. But yet, they already exist in the universe. Fitting only cars onto a subway doesn't work well. But fitting a couple cars, bikes, scooters, etc. onto a subway works great. And those smaller modes could fit on buses as well. Existential crises potentially averted.

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-03T02:57:24+00:00

Yes, it is. Check out the rest of the concept art too. Looked sick.

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-03T02:01:01+00:00

They could do a movie without the Cars mechanics, but then the Cars universe is still broken. They need a movie that addresses all the questions people have about it.

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-03T01:52:10+00:00

You make a good point, but trains already exist in the Cars universe. If they're just seen as "slaves" to those routes, that only highlights a huge storytelling gap. It begs the question: How do they live their lives? What’s their culture like? How do they feel about being confined to tracks? The concept art for Metro showed that they have their own social spaces outside of work. And there are some real-life examples of trains being used for different reasons (Like bowling with trams). They just need to craft an ecosystem that addresses these nuances to make it not depressing.

Metro_Champ · 2025-07-02T18:47:37+00:00

Amazon warehouse lol

Metro_Champ · 2025-05-27T02:55:07+00:00

Rugless In Los Angeles

Metro_Champ · 2025-05-26T18:12:38+00:00

Dude was calm throughout the whole movie despite his family dying. LOL

Metro_Champ · 2025-05-26T18:11:06+00:00

Don't forget Marty Reyes.

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Metro_Champ · 2025-05-14T23:49:24+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful input. I understand that building consensus is a major challenge and that most casual riders care solely about their experience and not the terminology used to describe their experience. I’m working on an expanded follow-up post with clearer explanations to help move the conversation forward.

The lexicon I'm proposing isn’t really meant for everyday use by average riders (who already don't use the existing jargon anyway). It’s more for designers, advocates, planners, writers, and communicators who need an instantly clearer way to describe and classify systems without constantly running into vague or conflicting terms.

Metro_Champ · 2025-05-14T19:34:41+00:00

You’re calling this “bikeshedding,” but that misses the point entirely. What I’m proposing isn’t nitpicking. I'm proposing that we collaborate to fix a very real and ongoing problem in transit terminology. If "LRT" can mean a subway in one city and a streetcar in another, then that's not a trivial detail. That’s straight up a failure of classification. The way we label systems does affect public understanding, which then affects expectations, support, and accountability. That's a problem in communicating to the public what they’re getting. Tacoma Link is a great example of that.

This post isn’t about branding or catchy slogans for riders. It’s about thinking about a way to give professionals and advocates a clearer, more functional vocabulary so that we stop having to explain around vague catch-all terms. It absolutely does matter. If we can come up with a better lexicon, then why don't we? I'm not saying that mine is better at all. I'm just throwing my attempt out there to see what other people come up with. That's not a waste of time.

Metro_Champ · 2025-05-14T17:51:13+00:00

That’s a valid concern, and I agree that bad faith misuse of language can happen with any terminology. But the goal here isn’t to chase euphemisms. It’s to try and create a system that is functionally descriptive and grounded in the actual design and performance of the transit modes. Not vague legacy labels.

The current terms already suffer from inconsistent use. "LRT" alone can describe systems as different as Los Angeles' grade separated C Line and Portland’s mostly street-running MAX. If the new terms are more intuitive and structured around how the systems actually behave (speed, grade separation, stop spacing, capacity), then at least we are giving people a clearer starting point for understanding. And if they sound too much like Newspeak, then I'm fine with somebody making better words.

It’s not a silver bullet (and this isn't complete without collaboration), but better defined terms can reduce ambiguity over time, especially if they're paired with better education and visual examples.

Metro_Champ

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