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Why do people believe that public transportation does not enable sprawl? A great commuter rail system is what allows people who work in the world's premiere ci
by bryananderson 9y ago
Why do people believe that public transportation does not enable sprawl?
A great commuter rail system is what allows people who work in the world's premiere cities to live in strip-mall exurbs and take the train to work.
I live in Washington, DC. Metro is what allows huge numbers of people to live in sprawling suburbs instead of in the city. Yes, some drive, but traffic is rough and would be unbearable without Metro. Fewer people would be able to live outside the dense city center.
- ricardobeat 9y agoUrban sprawl involves low-density areas. Metropolitan areas are going to spread out regardless. What cars enable is sprawl even when there is not enough density/economic output to make mass public transport viable.
- bryananderson 9y agoMass transit enables people to live in low-density areas who otherwise could not. A massive proportion of the DC area population lives in the burbs, drives to a cheap/nearby parking garage at a transit center, and then takes mass transit into the city to work. This lifestyle would be impossible without mass transit. What makes you think that density/economic output are the main factors in how much public transit actually gets built? EDIT: I actually love public transit, but I just don't see any evidence that it does anything but encourage sprawl just like cars do. Also, public mass transit's environmental advantage over cars will vanish with electrification. What public transit does do extremely well is get people from A to B with high throughput. That by itself is highly valuable in any major city.