Originally Posted by
velosnow
There are certainly challenges, but the whole definition of insanity and all.
The Dutch, at first, actually rejected the move toward cycling infrastructure and better walk-ability in the 70s. Now obviously they've been quite successful and estimated healthcare savings are in the billions annually. Something like 3% of their GDP. Not to mention the intangibles of better QOL and lifestyle. Plus of course a great rail network and the last mile is often not an issue. Not too late for us to achieve a bit of that, but not going to be easy or cheap.
I'm all for that, Americans could all use a bit more exercise. Used to love my rides up through the country side to places like Hoorn, Volendam, etc... They've done that to a small extent in my part of the country and I'd like to see it expanded. But the distances involved are still on a vastly different scale. My suburb alone is wider than most of the small cities in the Netherlands. Amsterdam itself is small than most of the "small" cities in the U.S.
Originally Posted by
HelloNewnan
America actually does have an amazing rail network.
You just need to be a hog or a cattle.
Problem is, aside from ownership/priority of those tracks, they're generally not suited for the high speed trains we'd need to make transit times somewhat reasonable.