4 ms·

Walk. EDIT: or just drive, as you do now.

rnk 4y ago
so we build giant parking lots at our metro train stations? We need different transportation. The us is terrible at building needed train infra. But just like in Europe, you need different solutions at diff levels.
- SECProto 4y ago
  > so we build giant parking lots at our metro train stations No. The comment you're replying to specifically said "walk", while the comment at top of thread specifically mentioned that building trains "requires a move towards high-density housing". High density housing, trains, and walking is a solved transportation solution for cities with much higher/denser populations than we have in North America. Getting there from here is not such a solved solution, but the general process many places are working on goes: build train (with park and ride at outskirts for current ridership) --> build high density mixed use near stations (which now doesn't need parking for each unit) --> rinse and repeat until city is more sustainable without blowing $$$,$$$,$$$ on road capital projects every year to deal with ever-increasing traffic
  - eric-hu 4y ago
    What cities or countries did this successfully? Were they as dependent on cars as American cities tend to be?
    - scruple 4y ago
      What does past success have to do with anything? We need to solve this problem. For crying out loud, it doesn't have to look like something else that someone else did. We can be innovative! It isn't our first time!
    - SECProto 4y ago
      > What cities or countries did this successfully? As I said, "the general process many places are working on". Look up cities in Can/US/Aus currently building light rail systems and you'll see who is working on it (with greater or lesser degrees of commitment, which will have corresponding outcomes in a decade or so). North American cities successfully built themselves to be car dependent when no one else ever had, now they just need to work in reverse. The problems aren't functionally different whether it's cars jammed in stop-and-go on an interstate, trains overcrowded on a regional rail, horse and carriages clogging a bridge in medieval england (eg like discussed in the historical fiction World Without End), or individual people jamming the gates at Mecca or a large concert entrance/exit. The root problem is vehicle lanes can only accomodate a few thousands of vehicles per hour at most (1800 at 2s following distance), while trains can easily accomodate tens of thousands of passengers in the same right of way. Even a sidewalk can (but generally don't) accomodate more users than single occupant vehicles on a highway lane.
- squarefoot 4y ago
  No need for giant parking lots at trains stations, just rethink the whole thing so that for traveling bigger distances the driver climbs on the train without leaving the car, not unlike what we already do with ferries.

rnk 4y ago

so we build giant parking lots at our metro train stations? We need different transportation. The us is terrible at building needed train infra. But just like in Europe, you need different solutions at diff levels.

SECProto 4y ago
> so we build giant parking lots at our metro train stations No. The comment you're replying to specifically said "walk", while the comment at top of thread specifically mentioned that building trains "requires a move towards high-density housing". High density housing, trains, and walking is a solved transportation solution for cities with much higher/denser populations than we have in North America. Getting there from here is not such a solved solution, but the general process many places are working on goes: build train (with park and ride at outskirts for current ridership) --> build high density mixed use near stations (which now doesn't need parking for each unit) --> rinse and repeat until city is more sustainable without blowing $$$,$$$,$$$ on road capital projects every year to deal with ever-increasing traffic
- eric-hu 4y ago
  What cities or countries did this successfully? Were they as dependent on cars as American cities tend to be?
  - scruple 4y ago
    What does past success have to do with anything? We need to solve this problem. For crying out loud, it doesn't have to look like something else that someone else did. We can be innovative! It isn't our first time!
  - SECProto 4y ago
    > What cities or countries did this successfully? As I said, "the general process many places are working on". Look up cities in Can/US/Aus currently building light rail systems and you'll see who is working on it (with greater or lesser degrees of commitment, which will have corresponding outcomes in a decade or so). North American cities successfully built themselves to be car dependent when no one else ever had, now they just need to work in reverse. The problems aren't functionally different whether it's cars jammed in stop-and-go on an interstate, trains overcrowded on a regional rail, horse and carriages clogging a bridge in medieval england (eg like discussed in the historical fiction World Without End), or individual people jamming the gates at Mecca or a large concert entrance/exit. The root problem is vehicle lanes can only accomodate a few thousands of vehicles per hour at most (1800 at 2s following distance), while trains can easily accomodate tens of thousands of passengers in the same right of way. Even a sidewalk can (but generally don't) accomodate more users than single occupant vehicles on a highway lane.
squarefoot 4y ago
No need for giant parking lots at trains stations, just rethink the whole thing so that for traveling bigger distances the driver climbs on the train without leaving the car, not unlike what we already do with ferries.