Submitted by Pardon_my_baconess t3_xxf63s in todayilearned
Hot-Specialist-6824 t1_irbsdaj wrote
Reply to comment by andersonfmly in TIL the length of the US rail network is twice that of Europe by Pardon_my_baconess
Robert Caro's book The Power Broker about Robert Moses retells how time and time again how his answer was simply to build more highways and more lanes, and even when state governments wanted to put public transportation such as light rail alongside or in the middle of highways, Moses found ways not to do that, he was, in retrospect, somewhat elitist and didn't care about the poor having access to travel. Another example is he put a highway in on the west side of Manhattan and the park between the highway and the river, but put no way for pedestrians to access the park from the west side.
andersonfmly t1_irbug2c wrote
Sounds like an interesting read, thanks. I commute 21 miles each way for work, which takes about 35-40 minutes in the morning, and 50-70 minutes in the afternoon. As maddening as that is, to use mass transportation where I live would require... Four buses, two trains, walking or catching a Uber for 4+ miles, 4-4.5 hours of travel time each way, and cost north of $500 per month. It's utterly absurd, and there's not an ice cube's chance in Hades I will ever do so under present conditions. So me and my all electric car, that costs me zero to charge compliments of my solar array, spend a LOT of quality time together.
noise-tragedy t1_irc2rue wrote
US (and Canadian) public transport is grossly inefficient largely due to land use policy. Public transit only works in reasonably high-density urban areas and can't serve suburbs. Public transit doesn't work here because most places are low-density suburbs.
We can't have effective public transit on this continent without rebuilding our cities along the lines of the larger European cities (e.g. 4-6 story midrise buildings everywhere) or Tokyo (essentially no zoning rules and 4-40 story buildings everywhere), or rebuilding our suburbs along the lines of Switzerland (rural housing clustered around public transit nodes).
There's not an ice cube's chance in Hades of major land use changes ever happening. A society so dominated by reactionaries that it won't build enough new housing just to keep up with population growth is incapable of major change on the scale required to meaningfully change land use policies. We committed to car-only land use decades ago and we're stuck with it.
OtherIsSuspended t1_ircmb5a wrote
Interurbans/electric trolley railways could easily serve the suburbs between two decently sized cities
behind69proxies t1_ire11xx wrote
You guys really like the word 'reactionaries' lately. Just noticed it everywhere in the comments recently.
noise-tragedy t1_irgl7nt wrote
Would you rather people used 'senile Boomers,' 'rentiers,' or 'fascists' instead?
behind69proxies t1_irhlj2f wrote
Do all those words mean the same thing to you?
Hot-Specialist-6824 t1_irc6eh5 wrote
It's a great read, don't expect to go through it in one night. It's also absolutely fascinating how somebody who wasn't elected to any position managed to become one of the most powerful people in New York politics. Btw Caro as done a number of great biographies & won a Pilitzer.
AgoraiosBum t1_ircijn5 wrote
Man, Moses sucked.
pjabrony t1_iretj6a wrote
He also built the Cross-Bronx Expressway cutting right through some of the parishes that were officially recognized neighborhoods.
RogerKnights t1_irq6mjo wrote
As a child I played in the condemned houses along the site of the Cross Bronx Expressway
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