I think plenty of them are convenient enough...if the assumption is that you'll drive to them.
Interestingly, the industry is shifting away from "convenience store" and towards "C-Store." Not sure if this is a reflection of your point, or just easier to write than "convenience" 😅
If you need a vehicle to get to it, it's not very convenient. Bathrooms are attached to master bathrooms so that they are just a few steps away from sleeping quarters. I would hate to drive to a convenience store to use a bathroom. Proximity is a necessary condition for convenience.
To your point, Buccees might be the future for "convenience stores," evidence that convenience is not the marketing focus. The original Buccees is near the Texas Gulf Coast, and the first one that I frequented was at an otherwise deserted highway junction leading to the public beach. They were definitely thinking about a large-format store accessible by car without regard neighborhood access.
It seems that transit planners are fixated on 'traffic generators'. But they are totally blind to what could be a traffic generator. A university, hospital, or sports facility is a traffic generator.
But what about restaurant areas, or night time entertainment venues?
The most blatant example of this that I can rant about is a section of north River Road in River Grove.
Are you going to tell me with a straight face that Gene's and Jude's Hot Dog stand IS NOT a traffic generator? A restaurant that has a line outside the door throughout the day?
Look how close it is to a C.T.A. route. Some route #77 Belmont buses could be extended to Grand and River Road. Or would a better experiment be to have a separate looping route via Cumberland|Thatcher, Grand, River Road, and Belmont? Notice this would also serve the Hala Kahiki Tiki Bar, the River Grove Metra Milwaukee-West District station, and the bars and restaurants between the RR crossing and Grand Ave.? These are not 'traffic generators'?!
I bet an agency could encourage River Grove to even kick in some money for it.
Great piece! Innovation is so crucial for being sustainable as culture/life/trends always are changing. Sometimes it will fail, but that is all part of the pie.
Such as when Tumblr was bought to be turned into "the next generation PDF" (source: https://qz.com/708295/yahoos-grand-plan-for-tumblr-was-to-turn-it-into-the-next-generation-pdf). What does that mean? Did it work? Well no, but in most cases we don't know until we try. We must be bold in accepting failure as part of the process. Otherwise we have no chance of sustaible, long-term driven success.
Do we really have "convenience stores" in the US? Most of them seem inconvenient to me.
I think plenty of them are convenient enough...if the assumption is that you'll drive to them.
Interestingly, the industry is shifting away from "convenience store" and towards "C-Store." Not sure if this is a reflection of your point, or just easier to write than "convenience" 😅
If you need a vehicle to get to it, it's not very convenient. Bathrooms are attached to master bathrooms so that they are just a few steps away from sleeping quarters. I would hate to drive to a convenience store to use a bathroom. Proximity is a necessary condition for convenience.
To your point, Buccees might be the future for "convenience stores," evidence that convenience is not the marketing focus. The original Buccees is near the Texas Gulf Coast, and the first one that I frequented was at an otherwise deserted highway junction leading to the public beach. They were definitely thinking about a large-format store accessible by car without regard neighborhood access.
It seems that transit planners are fixated on 'traffic generators'. But they are totally blind to what could be a traffic generator. A university, hospital, or sports facility is a traffic generator.
But what about restaurant areas, or night time entertainment venues?
The most blatant example of this that I can rant about is a section of north River Road in River Grove.
Are you going to tell me with a straight face that Gene's and Jude's Hot Dog stand IS NOT a traffic generator? A restaurant that has a line outside the door throughout the day?
Look how close it is to a C.T.A. route. Some route #77 Belmont buses could be extended to Grand and River Road. Or would a better experiment be to have a separate looping route via Cumberland|Thatcher, Grand, River Road, and Belmont? Notice this would also serve the Hala Kahiki Tiki Bar, the River Grove Metra Milwaukee-West District station, and the bars and restaurants between the RR crossing and Grand Ave.? These are not 'traffic generators'?!
I bet an agency could encourage River Grove to even kick in some money for it.
Appreciate you mentioning my essay! Wonderful writing <3
Thank you, and thank you for writing it!
Great piece! Innovation is so crucial for being sustainable as culture/life/trends always are changing. Sometimes it will fail, but that is all part of the pie.
Such as when Tumblr was bought to be turned into "the next generation PDF" (source: https://qz.com/708295/yahoos-grand-plan-for-tumblr-was-to-turn-it-into-the-next-generation-pdf). What does that mean? Did it work? Well no, but in most cases we don't know until we try. We must be bold in accepting failure as part of the process. Otherwise we have no chance of sustaible, long-term driven success.