Alternative Forms of Transportation in...Golf Carts??

I’ve talked a lot about the importance and need for multiple forms of transportation in Elizabethton. We obviously have a vast network of streets for cars and trucks, miles of sidewalks for pedestrians, and two different trail systems for pedestrians and bikers. But what about other modes of transportation that you don’t typically see on streets? What about golf carts?

Now you may be thinking golf carts are only used by old people, why would we want to encourage this type of transportation here? Well, actually, there is a lot of positives to doing this. Many bigger cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, and even Greenville, South Carolina are creating neighborhoods where golf carts can be used as a mode of transportation.

Golf carts provide yet another form of transportation between bicycles and cars. With a typical maximum speed of 25 mph, they are attractive for older citizens who may not desire the higher speeds or bigger size of a car for a majority of their daily activities.

Limited speeds of golf carts also limit the range in which someone will travel for their daily activities. For example, if you live near downtown and drove a golf cart, you may be more inclined to shop and eat there rather than traveling to Walmart or Johnson City. This encourages more localized living which helps the Elizabethton economy.

Because of their size, golf carts also take up a little more than a third of the space cars do. This would allow for less space dedicated to parking spaces and more space for building and development, which means more people could park and shop within our existing parking infrastructure than currently can.

Ultimately, golf carts provide yet another form of transportation which makes Elizabethton more comfortable for all generations and all people to live in. We want people who will move to Elizabethton when they graduate from college, raise a family here, and grow old here. This creates what we in the planning world call a lifecycle community. And just like different housing is needed for each phase of life, different types of transportation can help move us closer to a lifecycle community. Let’s talk about it!