4 ms·

Why? He's being honest about what he wants. He's not demanding it, just expressing a preference. He's also expressing that the public transit system is a comple

by ericd 10y ago

Why? He's being honest about what he wants. He's not demanding it, just expressing a preference. He's also expressing that the public transit system is a complete mess. I'm in Japan at the moment, and I can't help but agree - it's clean, fast, the trains come exactly when they say they will, and everything connects to everything else. It's wonderful, and I wish we had a system like this for ourselves in the US.

rsync 10y ago
From the grandparent: "Public transit has its use, but I generally hate it except in rare situations like Zurich or Berlin." From the parent: "I'm in Japan at the moment, and I can't help but agree - it's clean, fast, the trains come exactly when they say they will" This: (how nice (insert public service here) is in CH/nordic/germany/japan) compared to the United States is always submitted as some kind of perplexing accident - like only some weird burst of cosmic rays could possibly explain why, for instance, polite behaviors on buses are so much better in Tokyo than they are in Cleveland. But it's not confusing or strange at all: a homogenous society is easy to make work. Oh, you have a whole city full of Lars Larsons and Handt Hansons ? Why, however do you make such a place work ? How amazing that everything comes together just so and there is no animosity between net tax payers and net tax receivers. Well, of course there isn't. It's easy to work and live together with people and provide funding for their social benefit when their name is John Johnsson just like yours is. The US is not easy. It's not an easy place. We have interesting problems that are going to be harder to figure out than pedantically pointing at the nordic countries. On the other hand, we invented jazz and stuck a flag on the moon, so we've got that going for us - which is nice.
- quinnchr 10y ago
  This is silly, there are plenty of counterexamples. See Santiago, Chile and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for examples of large multi-ethnic cities with efficient, safe, and clean public transportation systems. This is specious reasoning at best unless you've done an exhaustive study of all public transportation.
  - guard-of-terra 10y ago
    Chile is culturally homogenous isn't it? Ethnic background of its population varies, but they're already all Chileans today.
- tuukkah 10y ago
  To give you a counter-example, Stockholm/Sweden is more multi-cultural and multi-ethnic than some US cities/states. And they have great public transit.
- adwn 10y ago
  > But it's not confusing or strange at all: a homogenous society is easy to make work. What has being a homogeneous society to do with building a proper public transport system? Maybe you could argue that having only "John Johnssons" makes being nice to each other easier, but it's not a necessary condition for making a decent schedule or building trains. Besides, Berlin has probably the least homogeneous population of all of Germany. > On the other hand, we invented jazz and stuck a flag on the moon, so we've got that going for us - which is nice. Resting on one's past laurels won't help solving today's problems. How well did that work out for the Roman Empire? Case in point: The US actually lost its ability to send a person to space, and hasn't been able to send people to the Moon for 44 years now.
  - douche 10y ago
    When the bulk of the Berlin transit system was built, the city had the diversity of New Hampshire, and was being run by autocratic governments that were big on central planning and large public works projects.
    - adwn 10y ago
      The last autocratic government in Berlin threw the towel 26 years ago. I'm pretty sure that not everything stayed totally static since then. Besides, central planning and large public works projects might actually be a good approach when it comes to the public transport of a large city.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - rsync 10y ago
    "What has being a homogeneous society to do with building a proper public transport system?" A public transport system is a very expensive public good that needs to be paid for by everyone for the good of everyone. Like fully socialized medicine, that is easy to pay for when you self-identify with the recipients. That's what I mean by the Handt Hansons working together with the John Johnssons. Or the Hiro Nakamuras. The United States' diversity predates our development of these things - unlike trains and welfare in Zurich[1] and Berlin - all of which predate their diversity. Yes, I have been to Berlin and had a doner kebob. How many doner kebobs were for sale in 1902, when the U-Bahn opened ? "Resting on one's past laurels won't help solving today's problems." Agreed. I just wanted to make a caddyshack joke. [1] And honestly, while Zurich is very diverse on paper, almost all of those foreign born residents of Zurich have one very important thing in common - they have very high incomes and are quite wealthy.
- xorcist 10y ago
  Have you been to Berlin? It's not hard to believe that the modern kebab was invented there.
- michaelmrose 10y ago
  Our problems aren't much more difficult because we are so diverse they are so difficult because we are shortsighted, greedy, and stupid. Americans privileged by circumstances and by virtue of excellent resources material and financial are no longer good at much other tech and war. Signed, An American
- Doctor_Fegg 10y ago
  London.
- kitsune_ 10y ago
  This is very ignorant, Switzerland 's foreign population is over 20%, in a city like Zurich it's a third. http://blog.tagesanzeiger.ch/datenblog/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2015/03/Auslaender-nach-Quartieren-01.jpg http://blog.tagesanzeiger.ch/datenblog/wp-content/uploads/si...
- unscaled 10y ago
  Berlin is one of the LEAST homogenous cities in Europe, so it has to break this argument down.
- stuaxo 10y ago
  London doesn't have a homogeneous society, but has good transport.

by ericd 10y ago

rsync 10y ago

From the grandparent: "Public transit has its use, but I generally hate it except in rare situations like Zurich or Berlin." From the parent: "I'm in Japan at the moment, and I can't help but agree - it's clean, fast, the trains come exactly when they say they will" This: (how nice (insert public service here) is in CH/nordic/germany/japan) compared to the United States is always submitted as some kind of perplexing accident - like only some weird burst of cosmic rays could possibly explain why, for instance, polite behaviors on buses are so much better in Tokyo than they are in Cleveland. But it's not confusing or strange at all: a homogenous society is easy to make work. Oh, you have a whole city full of Lars Larsons and Handt Hansons ? Why, however do you make such a place work ? How amazing that everything comes together just so and there is no animosity between net tax payers and net tax receivers. Well, of course there isn't. It's easy to work and live together with people and provide funding for their social benefit when their name is John Johnsson just like yours is. The US is not easy. It's not an easy place. We have interesting problems that are going to be harder to figure out than pedantically pointing at the nordic countries. On the other hand, we invented jazz and stuck a flag on the moon, so we've got that going for us - which is nice.

quinnchr 10y ago
This is silly, there are plenty of counterexamples. See Santiago, Chile and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for examples of large multi-ethnic cities with efficient, safe, and clean public transportation systems. This is specious reasoning at best unless you've done an exhaustive study of all public transportation.
- guard-of-terra 10y ago
  Chile is culturally homogenous isn't it? Ethnic background of its population varies, but they're already all Chileans today.
tuukkah 10y ago
To give you a counter-example, Stockholm/Sweden is more multi-cultural and multi-ethnic than some US cities/states. And they have great public transit.
adwn 10y ago
> But it's not confusing or strange at all: a homogenous society is easy to make work. What has being a homogeneous society to do with building a proper public transport system? Maybe you could argue that having only "John Johnssons" makes being nice to each other easier, but it's not a necessary condition for making a decent schedule or building trains. Besides, Berlin has probably the least homogeneous population of all of Germany. > On the other hand, we invented jazz and stuck a flag on the moon, so we've got that going for us - which is nice. Resting on one's past laurels won't help solving today's problems. How well did that work out for the Roman Empire? Case in point: The US actually lost its ability to send a person to space, and hasn't been able to send people to the Moon for 44 years now.
- douche 10y ago
  When the bulk of the Berlin transit system was built, the city had the diversity of New Hampshire, and was being run by autocratic governments that were big on central planning and large public works projects.
  - adwn 10y ago
    The last autocratic government in Berlin threw the towel 26 years ago. I'm pretty sure that not everything stayed totally static since then. Besides, central planning and large public works projects might actually be a good approach when it comes to the public transport of a large city.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- rsync 10y ago
  "What has being a homogeneous society to do with building a proper public transport system?" A public transport system is a very expensive public good that needs to be paid for by everyone for the good of everyone. Like fully socialized medicine, that is easy to pay for when you self-identify with the recipients. That's what I mean by the Handt Hansons working together with the John Johnssons. Or the Hiro Nakamuras. The United States' diversity predates our development of these things - unlike trains and welfare in Zurich[1] and Berlin - all of which predate their diversity. Yes, I have been to Berlin and had a doner kebob. How many doner kebobs were for sale in 1902, when the U-Bahn opened ? "Resting on one's past laurels won't help solving today's problems." Agreed. I just wanted to make a caddyshack joke. [1] And honestly, while Zurich is very diverse on paper, almost all of those foreign born residents of Zurich have one very important thing in common - they have very high incomes and are quite wealthy.
xorcist 10y ago
Have you been to Berlin? It's not hard to believe that the modern kebab was invented there.
michaelmrose 10y ago
Our problems aren't much more difficult because we are so diverse they are so difficult because we are shortsighted, greedy, and stupid. Americans privileged by circumstances and by virtue of excellent resources material and financial are no longer good at much other tech and war. Signed, An American
Doctor_Fegg 10y ago
London.
kitsune_ 10y ago
This is very ignorant, Switzerland 's foreign population is over 20%, in a city like Zurich it's a third. http://blog.tagesanzeiger.ch/datenblog/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2015/03/Auslaender-nach-Quartieren-01.jpg http://blog.tagesanzeiger.ch/datenblog/wp-content/uploads/si...
unscaled 10y ago
Berlin is one of the LEAST homogenous cities in Europe, so it has to break this argument down.
stuaxo 10y ago
London doesn't have a homogeneous society, but has good transport.