4 ms·
In most of America, this idea seems to be even less practical than self-driving cars. America is pretty much designed to be a pessimal case for public transit.
by chc 9y ago
In most of America, this idea seems to be even less practical than self-driving cars. America is pretty much designed to be a pessimal case for public transit. San Diego, where I live, does invest in public transit infrastructure and has relatively extensive mass transit options (buses, trains and trolleys), and yet public transit is still largely unusable outside of fairly small, specific areas. In order to use public transit, I'd have to walk half a mile to a station and then my commute to work would be four times as long as it is by car.
So when I hear "invest in public transit infrastructure," I feel like it isn't a concrete enough suggestion. Does it actually mean tear down most of America and replace it with a country where mass transit is practical, or what? I'd love never to have to drive again, but merely investing in public transit demonstrably isn't enough.
- adrianN 9y agoI guess investment in public transit has to go hand in hand with saner zoning laws and measures to reduce sprawl. It's certainly not an over-night solution, but few things in city planning are.
- oftenwrong 9y agoAmerica is low density because it provides incentives for low density living. The solution, in short, is to remove those incentives. Once the costs of current land use patterns are undistorted, society will adjust, and land use will intensify. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/8/15/financing-suburbia-how-government-mortgage-policy-determined-where-youlive https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/8/15/financing-subu... https://granolashotgun.com/2016/08/31/a-thousand-hidden-subsidies/ https://granolashotgun.com/2016/08/31/a-thousand-hidden-subs... https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/8/a-utah-republican-might-have-the-best-urban-transportation-plan https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/8/a-utah-republic... https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/18/highway-spending-is-eating-the-budget https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/1/18/highway-spendi...
- CalRobert 9y agoSan drego has a surprisingly good train system with the light rail and coaster. It's just sitting on one of the most ass-backwardsedly designed cities out there. I can take the trolley to Santee, but not the airport?? not south park or north park (the whistle stop on thirtieth is named for the steetcar stop it used to be!!!!)? not Balboa park? It's a disaster of a city and the trolley deserves better.
- akgerber 9y agoThe issue with San Diego is not the lack of infrastructure, but the land use— many businesses and offices are in unwalkable office park hellscapes that are designed to make driving easy to the exclusion of any other mode of transit. Since public transit requires a walking trip at both ends, it will never be very popular in areas where one needs to take a dangerous mile-long walk across a sea of parking and high-speed arterials, instead of a quick jaunt through a lively neighborhood.
- chc 9y agoThat was exactly my point: A lot of the US is laid out in a way that is pessimal for mass transit — "hellscapes," as you put it — so investing in public transit infrastructure doesn't seem like enough to make a big difference. The problem isn't just a lack of investment, but also that mass transit isn't very well suited to America as it exists today. Any proposal to make public transit happen in America that doesn't address this seems pretty unrealistic to me.