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Trains and cars aren't the same thing. A train won't help you going shopping (if you buy lots of food like we do). A train won't help you pick up your kid from

Trains and cars aren't the same thing. A train won't help you going shopping (if you buy lots of food like we do). A train won't help you pick up your kid from school. A train won't help you pick up a piece of furniture off FB marketplace. A train won't help you, in general, going anywhere train tracks don't exist, or going door to door.

Mordisquitos 3y ago
Those are of course true at face value, but (other than the furniture example) they highlight the deeper problem with American urbanism. A train is not necessarily a substitute for a car. For example, I have never needed a train to go food-shopping, because in all 7 different locations in which I have lived I have always lived at most a 10-minute-walk away from a supermarket (often significantly less). This was in different towns and cities in Spain, France and the UK. Regarding going to school, my parents never needed to drive me to school. That's because I lived 5/10 minutes walking distance from my primary school and my high school (to which some of my classmates came by train, metro or bus). This was in Madrid. And when I need to go door-to-door with no direct route, I virtually always have a trivial train/metro/bus combination available which at rush hour is faster than a car. This is in a town outside of Barcelona. I'm not saying that all America's cities (let alone its suburbs) just need more public transport and less restrictive zoning as a magical solution. The overall residential density and cultural expectations are what they are. However, the very reason that this solution appears unfeasible is part of a self-reinforcing spiral that makes even minor gradual improvements less likely to be effective, thus less likely to be implemented, thus making other minor improvements less likely to be effective... and so it goes.
- whimsicalism 3y ago
  Honestly, even hauling a bunch of groceries for a family from a market 10 minutes away is not super convenient. I used to do this in SF, it is much more convenient now that we have a car.
philip1209 3y ago
These things only require a car in the USA because of racist zoning policies that cover >75% of American residential land. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-family_zoning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-family_zoning

Mordisquitos 3y ago

Those are of course true at face value, but (other than the furniture example) they highlight the deeper problem with American urbanism. A train is not necessarily a substitute for a car. For example, I have never needed a train to go food-shopping, because in all 7 different locations in which I have lived I have always lived at most a 10-minute-walk away from a supermarket (often significantly less). This was in different towns and cities in Spain, France and the UK. Regarding going to school, my parents never needed to drive me to school. That's because I lived 5/10 minutes walking distance from my primary school and my high school (to which some of my classmates came by train, metro or bus). This was in Madrid. And when I need to go door-to-door with no direct route, I virtually always have a trivial train/metro/bus combination available which at rush hour is faster than a car. This is in a town outside of Barcelona. I'm not saying that all America's cities (let alone its suburbs) just need more public transport and less restrictive zoning as a magical solution. The overall residential density and cultural expectations are what they are. However, the very reason that this solution appears unfeasible is part of a self-reinforcing spiral that makes even minor gradual improvements less likely to be effective, thus less likely to be implemented, thus making other minor improvements less likely to be effective... and so it goes.

whimsicalism 3y ago
Honestly, even hauling a bunch of groceries for a family from a market 10 minutes away is not super convenient. I used to do this in SF, it is much more convenient now that we have a car.

philip1209 3y ago

These things only require a car in the USA because of racist zoning policies that cover >75% of American residential land. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-family_zoning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-family_zoning