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I'm not sure this is as pervasive as you suggest. I personally found the tube pretty terrible around heathrow and friends who studied abroad in various parts of

by zionic 9y ago

I'm not sure this is as pervasive as you suggest. I personally found the tube pretty terrible around heathrow and friends who studied abroad in various parts of europe complained about trains being late (Eurorail pass). The fact is nothing will beat the appeal of point to point travel for the individual. In my experience it seems Europeans are, on average, more willing than Americans to sacrifice personal comforts for efficiency. I saw this in everything from elevator size to hotel room configuration, and even road layout.

danans 9y ago
> I personally found the tube pretty terrible around heathrow and friends who studied abroad in various parts of europe complained about trains being late (Eurorail pass). Really, both of our arguments on this point are anecdotal, but there is a pretty solid body of evidence that European mass transit systems are far more efficient at moving large numbers of people efficiently between important destinations. > In my experience it seems Europeans are, on average, more willing than Americans to sacrifice personal comforts for efficiency. I saw this in everything from elevator size to hotel room configuration, and even road layout. This isn't because of something essential about Europeans. It's a consequence of their urban infrastructure developing under space constraints, and doing so prior to the mass adoption of the automobile. Today, many American cities are approaching the levels of density of European cities without transit systems built out over time to handle the congestion that the density brings, largely because of the single-occupancy commute vehicle.
- ahartmetz 9y ago
  I had similar thoughts in Tokyo - Japan has even higher population density than any large European country. Tokyo is amazingly quiet and clean (and therefore relaxing, if you don't have to work 12 hours a day...) for such a dense city. The cleanliness I had heard about before, but the lack of avoidable noise struck me only when I was there.

by zionic 9y ago

danans 9y ago

> I personally found the tube pretty terrible around heathrow and friends who studied abroad in various parts of europe complained about trains being late (Eurorail pass). Really, both of our arguments on this point are anecdotal, but there is a pretty solid body of evidence that European mass transit systems are far more efficient at moving large numbers of people efficiently between important destinations. > In my experience it seems Europeans are, on average, more willing than Americans to sacrifice personal comforts for efficiency. I saw this in everything from elevator size to hotel room configuration, and even road layout. This isn't because of something essential about Europeans. It's a consequence of their urban infrastructure developing under space constraints, and doing so prior to the mass adoption of the automobile. Today, many American cities are approaching the levels of density of European cities without transit systems built out over time to handle the congestion that the density brings, largely because of the single-occupancy commute vehicle.

ahartmetz 9y ago
I had similar thoughts in Tokyo - Japan has even higher population density than any large European country. Tokyo is amazingly quiet and clean (and therefore relaxing, if you don't have to work 12 hours a day...) for such a dense city. The cleanliness I had heard about before, but the lack of avoidable noise struck me only when I was there.