When my sister and I we’re young (elementary school age) we were friends with another brother-sister duo who lived one neighborhood over from ours. We went to the same school. All four of us were different ages, but we still had fun playing together.
They had a dog…some type of lab mut, I think. We did not have a dog, and complained frequently to our parents about that. My mom claimed she had allergies, which I wasn’t convinced of until I was in my twenties and developed allergies of my own. Anyway.
My sister and I were always happy to hang out at our friends’ house, especially if the dog was outside. Their house was similar to ours: colonial style, built in the 1970s, four bedrooms, less than 2000 square feet. Small but comfortable backyard for little people to play.
When we went inside for snacks, the kitchen would get crowded because their dog was running around our legs hoping for scraps. Dogs don’t really fit with for kids in a space like that, but what were we gonna do — his water and food were in there, too.
One summer this other family agreed to dog-sit for a great dane named Titus. Have you ever seen a Great Dane in person? Better yet, have you ever seen a great dane through the eyes of a 10-year old child?
And if size alone wasn’t startling enough, Titus was not well trained. Maybe he lived on a farm, I don’t know. It was like having a misbehaving pony in the house.
Titus was sweet. We never felt in danger, but that dog did not fit in the yard, much less the kitchen. This excited dog would wag his tail so hard against the walls and refrigerator that his tail would get cut and bleed. Titus got his tail wrapped with packing tape to protect him from himself. He just didn’t fit. Who knew the Clifford the Big Red Dog books we’re based on a true story?!
Here’s why I’m telling you about Titus.
When I hear City Fixers and transportation experts talk about multimodal balance, I think about giant dogs that don’t fit in kitchens. Balance means equal weight, so one thing doesn’t tip the scale. Multimodal balance is the idea the equal priority should be given to all the modes – buses, cars, bicycles, delivery trucks, fire trucks, scooters, and walking.
All those forms of mobility are important, and they all fit in a town or city or county. But we shouldn’t expect them to all fit on every street, especially not at the same time.
As soon as you design a street that makes fire trucks and pedestrians equivalent, you’ve ruined the street for pedestrians.
There is no such thing as multimodal balance.
Save yourself the effort. Some streets should prioritize high-speed freight. Other streets should prioritize walking and bicycling. The more imbalance the better.