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The goals of public transport are not aligned with getting more people to use it. Public transport currently is for people that do not or cannot drive. We use

The goals of public transport are not aligned with getting more people to use it. Public transport currently is for people that do not or cannot drive. We use it to try to serve everyone vs trying to serve the commuting audience. If you were to try to serve the commuting audience there would be a lot more speed in public transport and some people would be left behind vs a stop every two blocks. Trains would be heavy-rail below or above grade vs at grade light rail contesting with cars. Public transport would cost a lot but be worth the price because of the speed, security, and convenience.

renewiltord 3y ago
Agreed. And I think it's worse than that. In the US, public transit's objective is not to transport large numbers of people quickly. Public transit advocates in the US have a few objectives (in the POSIWID sense): 1. Job creation for construction workers 2. Job protection for train operators 3. Shelter for those who have no warm place to shelter You can tell this is the case by the following actions by transit advocates: 1. i. Efforts to increase funding for the same outcomes as before i. Success metrics described are usually in terms of jobs created and small businesses contracted 2. Active opposition to Skytrain-style automated trains 3. Efforts to make public transit free I think these objectives are transparent to most observers, most of whom do not share those objectives. Therefore, transit will face headwinds for the moment.
- jcranmer 3y ago
  I've seen literally none of those arguments advanced by any of the transit advocates I follow, and I've only seen the argument for free public transit secondhand (i.e., the advocates I follow are discussing the argument and decide against it). Most of the transit advocacy I see is based on the fact that US public transit systems need to, in general, be more rationale, and focus on supporting things like high-frequency all-day travel (and rush-hour-peak-direction-only transit is effectively a farce of transit), or more coherent bus routes or better integration between different systems to alleviate capacity bottlenecks (hi NYC Penn Station). And an awful lot of the-system-is-rotten-and-people-need-to-be-canned (I mean, when you have a front-row seat to the WMATA meltdown, it's hard not to have that sentiment).
  - renewiltord 3y ago
    Thank you. Perhaps things are different on the East Coast. I will amend my beliefs to Washington and California then.

renewiltord 3y ago

Agreed. And I think it's worse than that. In the US, public transit's objective is not to transport large numbers of people quickly. Public transit advocates in the US have a few objectives (in the POSIWID sense): 1. Job creation for construction workers 2. Job protection for train operators 3. Shelter for those who have no warm place to shelter You can tell this is the case by the following actions by transit advocates: 1. i. Efforts to increase funding for the same outcomes as before i. Success metrics described are usually in terms of jobs created and small businesses contracted 2. Active opposition to Skytrain-style automated trains 3. Efforts to make public transit free I think these objectives are transparent to most observers, most of whom do not share those objectives. Therefore, transit will face headwinds for the moment.

jcranmer 3y ago
I've seen literally none of those arguments advanced by any of the transit advocates I follow, and I've only seen the argument for free public transit secondhand (i.e., the advocates I follow are discussing the argument and decide against it). Most of the transit advocacy I see is based on the fact that US public transit systems need to, in general, be more rationale, and focus on supporting things like high-frequency all-day travel (and rush-hour-peak-direction-only transit is effectively a farce of transit), or more coherent bus routes or better integration between different systems to alleviate capacity bottlenecks (hi NYC Penn Station). And an awful lot of the-system-is-rotten-and-people-need-to-be-canned (I mean, when you have a front-row seat to the WMATA meltdown, it's hard not to have that sentiment).
- renewiltord 3y ago
  Thank you. Perhaps things are different on the East Coast. I will amend my beliefs to Washington and California then.