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As much as I love urban rail, its usefulness scales in direct proportion to population density. Europe has >2x the population density of the US. Japan has 10x t
by alwejrlaw 2y ago
As much as I love urban rail, its usefulness scales in direct proportion to population density. Europe has >2x the population density of the US. Japan has 10x the population density of the US. Rail for transit just doesn't make as much sense for the US. It works in a few of our densest cities, but nowhere else. Buses are cheaper, simpler, and easier than rail, but also are useful in proportion to density.
- astrange 2y agoJapan has pretty good rail in the parts of the country that aren't dense. The way you get it is (among other things) transit-oriented development, which the US has the exact opposite of when they surround suburban train stations with giant parking lots.
- mrguyorama 2y agoThis has always been a bullshit claim. The US HAD good urban rail infrastructure back when we were less dense and had half as many people total. Even if the claim (you need Europe density) wasn't trivially false, several parts of the US DO meet that level of density and could easily support good public infrastructure. Or do you not know that in the early 1900s nearly every city had copious public transportation that was relied on by literally everyone in the city?