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> Then why does public transit work in other countries with suburbs? To give a clear answer that others have beat around: it is the network. Transit works wh
by bluGill 3mo ago
> Then why does public transit work in other countries with suburbs?
To give a clear answer that others have beat around: it is the network. Transit works when you can get places. When you can get many places it doesn't work.
The real question is how can Dallas get there - which is a hard problem is you need a massive network investment before it becomes useful to many people and so there is a lot of upfront investment needed first.
The US has a poor history with getting a good return on investment for transit. In general even where the investment does get good ridership, the amount spent was way out of line from what anyone else in the world would have spent for that system.
- infecto 3mo agoThat trivializes the problem too much, part of the equation but you also have to have a population that actually wants it along with high enough density that it makes sense. For places like Dallas I struggle with all of the above. Sure some percentage would use it if it was flawless but I think far too few would.
- bluGill 3mo agoDallas has plenty of density as proven elsewhere. As for wanting it, people don't want what they don't know. How they would act if something existed is very different from what they say.
- infecto 3mo agoProven where? DFW is not as dense as you might think. Last mile is an incredibly hard problem to solve when it comes to transit and you add in unfavorable weather and it’s a not go. Good luck though! Just sharing as a member of the DFW community has taken dart and bikes a lot. The metro is absolutely not dense.