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I'd like to suggest an alternative to bashing the TSA. (most of the comments on here) Let's invest more in non-road infrastructure. We need bigger airports, fa

by dtwest 7y ago

I'd like to suggest an alternative to bashing the TSA. (most of the comments on here) Let's invest more in non-road infrastructure. We need bigger airports, faster trains, better mass transit connections to these hubs. Airports are over capacity in the US. I was in Chicago O'Hare yesterday, there were about 100 people sleeping on the floor throughout terminal B and C. When my flight boarded, nobody got up from their chairs, since they were waiting for a different flight, at a different gate, where there was no seating. Not only that, the roof was leaking, there were 10-15 buckets dispersed in the terminal catching rain drops from the ceiling. This is potentially the most important air transportation hub in the country and it is crumbling. There are plenty of other examples of this around the country.

deleted 7y ago
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acct1771 7y ago
TSA has increased subway etc presence as well.
jefflombardjr 7y ago
+1 for better trains and mass transit. Air travel is a different story, I think we should think twice about expanding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_transport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_transp... We probably wouldn't even need half of the short to mid range flights if we had a decent rail system. Amtrak is a joke though - at least in the North East Corridor
- nine_k 7y ago
  Trains make sense in dense areas, like Northeast, Northwest and parts of California. And some trains there are. US is unlike Germany or England or Japan, where the density of population (and thus of railways) is much higher than in most of the US.
somatic 7y ago
What you’re pointing out is just one expression of the larger phenomenon of America’s third-world-ification. We absolutely should have new airports. And trains. And not only should we have new airports and trains, we should have underground and undersea trains. Transatlantic undersea trains. Transpacific undersea trains. And we should have gleaming cityscapes of marble and gold, and great wide shaded streets free of cars and trucks and vehicles larger than mopeds or maybe sportbikes. And parks and water sculptures and street-corner quartets, flying cars and space elevators and O’Neill colonies, underground hydroponics farms and enormous vaulted subterranean spaces with artificial skies indistinguishable from a summer’s day. And you know why we don’t? Not for lack of industry or energy or technology or imagination. But because the money men aren’t interested.

by dtwest 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

acct1771 7y ago

TSA has increased subway etc presence as well.

jefflombardjr 7y ago

+1 for better trains and mass transit. Air travel is a different story, I think we should think twice about expanding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_transport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_transp... We probably wouldn't even need half of the short to mid range flights if we had a decent rail system. Amtrak is a joke though - at least in the North East Corridor

nine_k 7y ago
Trains make sense in dense areas, like Northeast, Northwest and parts of California. And some trains there are. US is unlike Germany or England or Japan, where the density of population (and thus of railways) is much higher than in most of the US.

somatic 7y ago

What you’re pointing out is just one expression of the larger phenomenon of America’s third-world-ification. We absolutely should have new airports. And trains. And not only should we have new airports and trains, we should have underground and undersea trains. Transatlantic undersea trains. Transpacific undersea trains. And we should have gleaming cityscapes of marble and gold, and great wide shaded streets free of cars and trucks and vehicles larger than mopeds or maybe sportbikes. And parks and water sculptures and street-corner quartets, flying cars and space elevators and O’Neill colonies, underground hydroponics farms and enormous vaulted subterranean spaces with artificial skies indistinguishable from a summer’s day. And you know why we don’t? Not for lack of industry or energy or technology or imagination. But because the money men aren’t interested.