3 ms·

I don't think you can compare public transport outcomes in the Netherlands with those of the US and use it as an indictment of the US implementation. The US has

I don't think you can compare public transport outcomes in the Netherlands with those of the US and use it as an indictment of the US implementation. The US has 50% more crime (including 5x more homicides) and ~$12k extra income (ie Americans can afford a little more comfort); the Netherlands has 5x the population density. Comparing the results of transporting a very different population through very different places doesn't reflect on either implementation on its own.

bluGill 1y ago
Population density is similar in the us and the netherlands, when you only count places that matter for transit. Farmers rarely get transit. Look only at the cities and not the rocky mountains and the us is plenty dense
- Calavar 1y ago
  Not that simple. Take Amtrak Northeast Regional. Service from NYC to Washington D.C is a very busy business travel route that goes down the densest population corridor in the country, but it still crosses areas (especially in northeast Maryland) that could be properly described as rural farmland.
  - bluGill 1y ago
    That area is still very dense compared to what trains pass through elsewhere in the world. Of course as a tiny country the Netherlands has nothing to compare with. However France has plenty of not dense farmland their trains pass through. Spain has even worse terrin that their trains pass through and again a great system.
fragmede 1y ago
The Netherlands as a whole is less dense than NYC. If density were the issue, why does public transportation in NYC have problems that the Netherlands does not?
queenkjuul 1y ago
Nobody lives in the all the empty land in the US. The majority of people in the US live in urban areas. The density argument never makes any sense. We're talking about public transit within a single city, not between Chicago and Denver.
piva00 1y ago
The population density of a whole massive country like the USA doesn't matter for public transportation that reaches its largest cities, you have pockets of very high density and an immense flyover space where few people live. With the density of the Northeast Corridor you could have the exact same setup as the Netherlands has, the Northeast is only 20% less dense than the Netherlands while housing 50m people, there's almost a whole France in there but nowhere close to the infrastructure the Netherlands nor France have to move people around. The USA is massive so there's a lot more space for localised solutions that work for different parts of the country, the West and East coasts could have similar solutions to interconnect the whole N -> S, there's enough density for it. If Sweden with 10m people and a frigid climate can run trains, public transportation, etc. in all major population areas along an area equivalent to the whole West Coast then I don't see any reason, except cultural-political ones, the USA couldn't.

bluGill 1y ago

Population density is similar in the us and the netherlands, when you only count places that matter for transit. Farmers rarely get transit. Look only at the cities and not the rocky mountains and the us is plenty dense

Calavar 1y ago
Not that simple. Take Amtrak Northeast Regional. Service from NYC to Washington D.C is a very busy business travel route that goes down the densest population corridor in the country, but it still crosses areas (especially in northeast Maryland) that could be properly described as rural farmland.
- bluGill 1y ago
  That area is still very dense compared to what trains pass through elsewhere in the world. Of course as a tiny country the Netherlands has nothing to compare with. However France has plenty of not dense farmland their trains pass through. Spain has even worse terrin that their trains pass through and again a great system.

fragmede 1y ago

The Netherlands as a whole is less dense than NYC. If density were the issue, why does public transportation in NYC have problems that the Netherlands does not?

queenkjuul 1y ago

Nobody lives in the all the empty land in the US. The majority of people in the US live in urban areas. The density argument never makes any sense. We're talking about public transit within a single city, not between Chicago and Denver.

piva00 1y ago

The population density of a whole massive country like the USA doesn't matter for public transportation that reaches its largest cities, you have pockets of very high density and an immense flyover space where few people live. With the density of the Northeast Corridor you could have the exact same setup as the Netherlands has, the Northeast is only 20% less dense than the Netherlands while housing 50m people, there's almost a whole France in there but nowhere close to the infrastructure the Netherlands nor France have to move people around. The USA is massive so there's a lot more space for localised solutions that work for different parts of the country, the West and East coasts could have similar solutions to interconnect the whole N -> S, there's enough density for it. If Sweden with 10m people and a frigid climate can run trains, public transportation, etc. in all major population areas along an area equivalent to the whole West Coast then I don't see any reason, except cultural-political ones, the USA couldn't.