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Do you think they built the MTA before they built Manhattan? Population growth creates the tax base, density, and demand required for a successful public trans
by ng12 6y ago
Do you think they built the MTA before they built Manhattan?
Population growth creates the tax base, density, and demand required for a successful public transportation system. Demanding that the public transport comes first is simply backwards.
- darawk 6y agoThey built the MTA when they still had the flexibility to do it. Portland is too developed now, too many entrenched interests, it'll never get done. Listen, I am on the same page as you - I would love for it to happen. I would vote for it. I would pay taxes for it. But the reality is that it isn't going to happen, and if you densify the city without the transit, you will have these problems.
- ajmurmann 6y agoMaybe once we have the problems, people will accept the solution
- freeone3000 6y agoWe need to make driving suck so much that people would rather take the bus.
- triceratops 6y agoThis but unironically.
- rfrey 6y agoIt's not "making" driving suck, it's allowing driving to suck as a result of market forces. We could stop forcing restrictions on property owners that prevent the natural, market-driven move to mass transit as density increases.
- asdff 6y agoOr make the bus suck less. Curbed bus lanes with fat fines for violators would do more to change urban America than anything else; a de facto revival of the streetcar. Why drive through the gridlock at 7mph when the bus is going 35mph right past you?
- imtringued 6y agoIt would certainly be cheaper than anything that is rail based.
- xyhopguy 6y agodensify portland -> improve tax revenue -> improve transit. nyc certainly benefited from aristocrats and lax labor laws when building the subway, but this isnt something that is impossible for portland. trimet is already huge for a city as small as portland. improving density will only help transit services. it doesnt have to be subways -- the willamette flood plain isnt great for subways anyway. portland should continue to build out its bus service and cycling infrastructure. portland is already pretty reasonable for living without a car, it will only improve with density.
- just_fred 6y agoAh yes, stuff the area full of people so that the quality of life tanks, and then the problem can magically fix itself.
- Nasrudith 6y agoThere is no "stuffing" - people move there of their own accord first. That they move there despite the inconveniences is a hint that the area is already in high demand and denying it won't make it any better. There also isn't anything magical about feedback loops.