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>No actual transit (the kind that runs on rails) What an arbitrary way to decide what "actual" transit is. There are about a thousand other, very valid, very u

>No actual transit (the kind that runs on rails) What an arbitrary way to decide what "actual" transit is. There are about a thousand other, very valid, very useful, very modern ways of building transit that have nothing to do with rails. If you're saying rails but meaning grade-separation, you're still wrong about non-grade-separated systems being somehow inherently inferior or unworthy. Look at any list of top transit systems in the world, the majority of modern systems incorporate non-grade-separated systems like trams, busways, or even regular old busses, because they work and they're cheap. People with your mindset are why this country may never have widespread transit systems, because you think insanely expensive infrastructure is the solution to a culture, marketing, and economic problem.

rsync 7y ago
"What an arbitrary way to decide what "actual" transit is. There are about a thousand other, very valid, very useful, very modern ways of building transit that have nothing to do with rails." I think you're missing my point - it's not about a fetish for rails ... In the United States, outside of two or three cities[1], there has been almost zero serious investment in public transportation[2] and that transit infrastructure is always some bullshit sideshow that checks a box but does not provide any kind of meaningful service that would allow car culture to change. Here is everything you need to know about public transit in the United States in one quick commercial: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wy2O/state-farm-backstory-truck-song-by-john-taylor https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wy2O/state-farm-backstory-truck-song... What is special about rail infrastructure is that you can't half-ass it. You can't sort of put the subway in or sort of build a lightrail line. If they are putting down rails there is serious, meaningful work being done that requires a lot of related investment in the entire ecosystem of transit. In the United States, buses don't count - not because buses are inherently bad but because in our car-centric environment that kind of service will never have the funding or the political backing to actually be useful. [1] NYC, Washington DC ... places with subways. [2] Seeing some halting progress in places like Denver and Minneapolis ... and I say "progress" with some qualifiers - after 25 years now has a second lightrail line and MPLS has one rail line that actually makes sense for commuters...

rsync 7y ago

"What an arbitrary way to decide what "actual" transit is. There are about a thousand other, very valid, very useful, very modern ways of building transit that have nothing to do with rails." I think you're missing my point - it's not about a fetish for rails ... In the United States, outside of two or three cities[1], there has been almost zero serious investment in public transportation[2] and that transit infrastructure is always some bullshit sideshow that checks a box but does not provide any kind of meaningful service that would allow car culture to change. Here is everything you need to know about public transit in the United States in one quick commercial: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wy2O/state-farm-backstory-truck-song-by-john-taylor https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wy2O/state-farm-backstory-truck-song... What is special about rail infrastructure is that you can't half-ass it. You can't sort of put the subway in or sort of build a lightrail line. If they are putting down rails there is serious, meaningful work being done that requires a lot of related investment in the entire ecosystem of transit. In the United States, buses don't count - not because buses are inherently bad but because in our car-centric environment that kind of service will never have the funding or the political backing to actually be useful. [1] NYC, Washington DC ... places with subways. [2] Seeing some halting progress in places like Denver and Minneapolis ... and I say "progress" with some qualifiers - after 25 years now has a second lightrail line and MPLS has one rail line that actually makes sense for commuters...