Why is U.S. Public Transit Crumbling?

Eingestellt von Thomas Mertens on 17. Dezember 2018 / Labels:
Why is U.S. Public Transit Crumbling?

The United States is falling way, way behind on funding public transit. And it’s hurting

https://thenib.com/why-is-u-s-public-transit-crumbling
https://thenib.com/why-is-u-s-public-transit-crumbling

3 Kommentare:

Thomas Bindewald hat gesagt…

ping Pascal Gienger

17. Dezember 2018 um 19:01
Pascal “Le Bakala” Gienger hat gesagt…

Because transit is associated with poor people. Because transit is associated with higher taxes. Because transit is not bringing you to the dream house of John Doe American which is miles away in an area with nothing else than more houses and roads. Urban sprawl is in the DNA of US people. They all want to live in the urban sprawl 10 miles out of downtown. In Europe you would not call this a city anymore but a dysfunctional collection of houses giving no sense of a city. Ask young boys and girls about their dream - they all want to have a house in the middle of nowhere where you need to drive even just to visit the neighbors. I would die of boredom in such a setting but hey I am the minority.

That is the sad truth. And it causes a more and more downspiral.

Another nail in the coffin are Lyft and Uber bringing people especially for leisure trips from transit to cars again. Car owners do not use Lyft or Uber where they live - and that makes revenue from transit plummeting more and roads even more congested.

You cannot get the car out of the equation the US John Doe is wanting. And so no one is willing to spend more tax money to bring the systems into a modern state.

And, last, the unwillingness of different actors to work together - and a president hating public transit and refusing funds even for the much needed Caltrain modernization.

The "autonomous car" seen as "the solution of transit" is a classical US failure for the first grade exercise "Understanding the problem completely before coming up with a solution".

And so everyone puts billions into "autonomous cars" and no one comes up with workable transit solutions for high density areas with limited road space.

So you will see more "autonomous car" ideas and - I am sure - "blockchain" (another "solution" for a problem no one has) as buzzword bingo investment rounds - but none for a transit system which actually solves mobility needs in a metropolitan area.

17. Dezember 2018 um 19:19
Thomas Mertens hat gesagt…

As an european, who is willingly paying taxes for public services, living in almost the centre of my home city, using public transfer on a daily basis You describe perfectly how I perceive US-American cities, Pascal Gienger.

17. Dezember 2018 um 20:12

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