Social Why did the US government not prioritize trains?

[The Big Yin]

You don't need to tear anything down, invest in the proper infrastructure and let the free market take care of the rest. In general there will be two ends of the spetrum when it comes to projects that shift our metro areas from car dependent to pedestrian friendly. There's big projects by big developers who might buy up a dying mall and tear it down for a large mixed use, car-lite development where apartments are located near shops and the buildings are connected by smaller paths meant for golf carts and bikes.

Then there's the small developer hired by a homeowner to renovate their own house into a multifamily and/or mixed use dwelling. Being able to operate your business out of your home is a great convenience but as of now its illegal to do so in most of the US if you want to open up a service oriented business like an eatery or grocer. Allow that kind of thing and people will invest in those kinds of ventures.

Take a case like London. It has exceptional transport links - trains, underground, buses and taxis. The trains are always rammed and horrendously expensive (I can fly to Spain and back cheaper than a 60 like train journey) but 95% of the time run like clockwork

You are never more than a 5 mins walk from a convenience store. All of our major supermarkets also deliver.

The city is also rabidly anti car. We have the congestion charge, ULEZ fines, ever expanding pedestrian zones, dystopian levels of CCTV surveillance issuing automatic fines for even the most minor traffic violation. Parking is also horrendously expensive. Add to that car insurance is astronomically high due to the high crime rate.

Everything has been done to make driving as uncomfortable as possible.

Yet despite all that - the city is gridlocked every morning and evening with cars. There isn't too many cars, there's too many people

 

[RoastBeast]

Yawn. It's always the same.

The liberals come out in force and want everyone who drives their own vehicles to be taxed and burdened as a punishment because they think they're the more virtuous person by wanting to take public transportation everywhere. Oh and they want their public transportation paid for by your tax dollars while you should have to pay extra as a punishment for wanting to take your own transportation.

Guarantee you almost none of these dorks own a home or have even had the need to use a truck for anything other than moving their shit from one downtown studio apartment to another.

 

[650lb Sumo]

Take a case like London. It has exceptional transport links - trains, underground, buses and taxis. The trains are always rammed and horrendously expensive (I can fly to Spain and back cheaper than a 60 like train journey) but 95% of the time run like clockwork

You are never more than a 5 mins walk from a convenience store. All of our major supermarkets also deliver.

The city is also rabidly anti car. We have the congestion charge, ULEZ fines, ever expanding pedestrian zones, dystopian levels of CCTV surveillance issuing automatic fines for even the most minor traffic violation. Parking is also horrendously expensive. Add to that car insurance is astronomically high due to the high crime rate.

Everything has been done to make driving as uncomfortable as possible.

Yet despite all that - the city is gridlocked every morning and evening with cars. There isn't too many cars, there's too many people

London is world's slowest city for drivers, study finds

The research says it is slow driving in the capital because of widespread 20mph speed limits.

www.bbc.co.uk

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3840690/Traffic-slower-HORSE-DRAWN-CARRIAGE-Ubers-online-delivery-drivers-means-spend-12-DAYS-stuck-gridlock-year.html

Shocking figures have revealed congestion for motorists has risen by 40 per cent in four years, with drivers spending an extra 12.4 hours in traffic a year.

London is the worst affected part of the country, with the average driver spending 101 hours, or 12 working days, in traffic last year with average vehicle speeds of 7.4mph — slower than a horse-drawn carriage in the 18th century.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Take a case like London. It has exceptional transport links - trains, underground, buses and taxis. The trains are always rammed and horrendously expensive (I can fly to Spain and back cheaper than a 60 like train journey) but 95% of the time run like clockwork

You are never more than a 5 mins walk from a convenience store. All of our major supermarkets also deliver.

The city is also rabidly anti car. We have the congestion charge, ULEZ fines, ever expanding pedestrian zones, dystopian levels of CCTV surveillance issuing automatic fines for even the most minor traffic violation. Parking is also horrendously expensive. Add to that car insurance is astronomically high due to the high crime rate.

Everything has been done to make driving as uncomfortable as possible.

Yet despite all that - the city is gridlocked every morning and evening with cars. There isn't too many cars, there's too many people

The London Metro moves over 3 million commuters a day while the Miami Metro moves less than 50k.

If we had a public transit system like that here I wouldn’t care about traffic, at that point if you're stuck in traffic it's because you're choosing to be.

 

[PaddyO'malley]

Trains are lit fam wish wi had more fi certain culd u imagine fam

 

[Possum Jenkins]

Take a case like London. It has exceptional transport links - trains, underground, buses and taxis. The trains are always rammed and horrendously expensive (I can fly to Spain and back cheaper than a 60 like train journey) but 95% of the time run like clockwork

You are never more than a 5 mins walk from a convenience store. All of our major supermarkets also deliver.

The city is also rabidly anti car. We have the congestion charge, ULEZ fines, ever expanding pedestrian zones, dystopian levels of CCTV surveillance issuing automatic fines for even the most minor traffic violation. Parking is also horrendously expensive. Add to that car insurance is astronomically high due to the high crime rate.

Everything has been done to make driving as uncomfortable as possible.

Yet despite all that - the city is gridlocked every morning and evening with cars. There isn't too many cars, there's too many people

Public transport can't create magic. At some point, the sheer amount of people in an area is going to cause slow traffic. But public transport is definitely the most efficient.

So given London's geographic size and population, people are able to move around as efficiently as possible because of its developed transportation system. If it had the exact size, population, but everyone had a car, it wouldn't be able to function. It'd be complete gridlock 24/7.

Anecdotally, when I've visited cities like London and New York, I've felt more free than in car-centric American cities like Tucson, Dallas, or Miami. Renting a car, driving through unfamiliar areas, finding parking, doing what you need to do, then getting in your car and driving again is way more stressful and less enjoyable than taking a train and walking everywhere.

 

[A Very Serious Cat]

Take a case like London. It has exceptional transport links - trains, underground, buses and taxis. The trains are always rammed and horrendously expensive (I can fly to Spain and back cheaper than a 60 like train journey) but 95% of the time run like clockwork

You are never more than a 5 mins walk from a convenience store. All of our major supermarkets also deliver.

The city is also rabidly anti car. We have the congestion charge, ULEZ fines, ever expanding pedestrian zones, dystopian levels of CCTV surveillance issuing automatic fines for even the most minor traffic violation. Parking is also horrendously expensive. Add to that car insurance is astronomically high due to the high crime rate.

Everything has been done to make driving as uncomfortable as possible.

Yet despite all that - the city is gridlocked every morning and evening with cars. There isn't too many cars, there's too many people

England's inter city trains are often crazy expensive to the point that I've visited just about every western European country but never made it up to Scotland since I came over last year

 

[The Big Yin]

England's inter city trains are often crazy expensive to the point that I've visited just about every western European country but never made it up to Scotland since I came over last year

If you book in advance you can get good deals, prices on the day are ludicrously expensive. But even pre-booked, flights to Glasgow or Edinburgh are so cheap and quick that it's just not worth it. My flights to the Edinburgh military tattoo this year were £56 return.

Driving isn't bad either. The A1 and M6 rarely get clogged. Plus you'll need a car to explore the Highlands

 

[Natural Order]

Public transportation is for pussies!

 

[A Very Serious Cat]

If you book in advance you can get good deals, prices on the day are ludicrously expensive. But even pre-booked, flights to Glasgow or Edinburgh are so cheap and quick that it's just not worth it. My flights to the Edinburgh military tattoo this year were £56 return.

Driving isn't bad either. The A1 and M6 rarely get clogged. Plus you'll need a car to explore the Highlands

I've looked at Edinburgh a few times but even in advance it was like 150 each way. Maybe it was just bad luck on the timing but when we rarely pay over 50 for a flight to Europe it keeps getting put off. I'll have to do it eventually though my mother has done the family tree and wants some photos of some places up there

 

[The Big Yin]

I've looked at Edinburgh a few times but even in advance it was like 150 each way. Maybe it was just bad luck on the timing but when we rarely pay over 50 for a flight to Europe it keeps getting put off. I'll have to do it eventually though my mother has done the family tree and wants some photos of some places up there

Flights? You shouldnt be paying anywhere near that.

The most I've ever paid is £100 return. It will depend on where you fly from - London City and Stansted are the cheapest for direct flights

 

[cottagecheesefan]

The London Metro moves over 3 million commuters a day while the Miami Metro moves less than 50k.

If we had a public transit system like that here I wouldn’t care about traffic, at that point if you're stuck in traffic it's because you're choosing to be.

lol, the Miami metro is basically a line along US 1 to downtown. It is sucks. If you are going anywhere that is not downtown or like south Miami shopping area, or the airport, it is useless

 

[PBAC]

Cos they gay

 

[650lb Sumo]

Flights? You shouldnt be paying anywhere near that.

The most I've ever paid is £100 return. It will depend on where you fly from - London City and Stansted are the cheapest for direct flights

@A Very Serious Cat could also use a ticket-splitting website, National Express or Megabus to get the most for his £.

 

[A Very Serious Cat]

@A Very Serious Cat could also use a ticket-splitting website, National Express or Megabus to get the most for his £.

Not keen on bus trips and as far as I know it was the best price at the time, got a train need to look for me and couldn't do better. I'll have another look later for some time in spring

 

[A Very Serious Cat]

Saying that, I have plenty of issues over here but at least the london transport is easy to use and mostly works well enough. Trying to use a ticket machine in Germany was an enigma I never fully got the hang of

 

[BreatheSherBro]

Yawn. It's always the same.

The liberals come out in force and want everyone who drives their own vehicles to be taxed and burdened as a punishment because they think they're the more virtuous person by wanting to take public transportation everywhere. Oh and they want their public transportation paid for by your tax dollars while you should have to pay extra as a punishment for wanting to take your own transportation.

Guarantee you almost none of these dorks own a home or have even had the need to use a truck for anything other than moving their shit from one downtown studio apartment to another.

Traffic isn't a liberal or conservative issue. It's non-partisan. Everyone agrees traffic sucks.

You can't fix traffic without alternatives to cars. Simple as that.

 

[mozfonky]

Why did the US government not prioritize trains over cars?

• Trains are the fastest way to move large numbers of people.
• Trains are the fastest way to move large numbers of goods.
• Trains are safer than cars.
• Trains are better for the environment.
• Trains are more energy efficient.
• Trains while exspensive, would overall have a lower cost.

I know there are a lot of people that prefer cars, but that isn't what this thread is about. This thread is about why the government chose cars over trains. The government chose to build highways everywhere including huge multilane highways that will always be plauged by horrendous traffic rather than prioritizing rail. This was a huge policy decision with major consequences. Why did the folks running the government go that route?

Again, I know there are a lot of people that would prefer cars. Unless you think your elected officals give a shit about your personal preferences though, that doesn't fully explain why the government prioriized cars over trains.

My guess is that it was just easier. Roads are more straight forward than well designed rail networks. Road projects tend to be smaller in scale. Less can go wrong. Bad roads have smaller consequences than bad rail networks. It's eaiser to convince people to absorb the costs of car ownership and car travel even though the costs are quite large.

i don't know, took a train one time, it was dreadful, 2.5 days of no sleep. Lots of things might seem better ideas than cars but anytime you have large numbers of people in a confined space, it's a headache for everyone.

 

[RoastBeast]

Traffic isn't a liberal or conservative issue. It's non-partisan. Everyone agrees traffic sucks.

You can't fix traffic without alternatives to cars. Simple as that.

These conversations might start with ideas on fixing traffic but they end with people wanting others who don't think like them to be punished. It's usually something like "Fine, you are free to still use your own cars but if you want to do that, then...." while they list what punishments are in store for those who care about having their own freedom of movement around the country.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Traffic isn't a liberal or conservative issue. It's non-partisan. Everyone agrees traffic sucks.

You can't fix traffic without alternatives to cars. Simple as that.

Not to mention it's drivers who are subsidized more so than public transit in the US. Guys like that will bristle at the idea of investing in transit while taking for granted that they're entitled to be subsidized by everyone else to drive where they want with minimal tolls and parking fees.