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.

 

when is the second best time to plant a tree/start good infrastructure?

 

America actually does have an amazing rail network.

You just need to be a hog or a cattle.

 

People train goes out of Stubbville.

 

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.



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.

 

Okay Owen. 🤣🤣

 

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care about human rights...or humans in general.

 

and how many cheap slave laborers died while building said rail in chyna?

 

His wife is a real trooper. I heard her first baby came out sideways.

 

Yes. That is because if all you build is a couple measly tiny lines, embedded in a huge landscape that is accommodating to cars but hostile to pedestrians, it won't be useful to that many people. You need to build out the system so that it actually takes you places. A transit system is only useful if it takes you where you need to go. A classic example is Detroit. Its a huge joke. They build their people mover and the Q line that literally goes nowhere and they point at the low ridership and say "seeeee! nobody uses transit. our American blood is just different." and it becomes a self defeating negative feedback loop. Yet in NYC there are 4 million daily riders and its the only city in the USA where car ownership is below 50%. As ****ty and old as the MTA system is, it takes people where they need to go, so they use it.

Usually making enough lines and stations is enough. I argue that should come first. But pedestrianizing and densifying the urban landscape needs to happen fist. Transit needs to connect walkable areas because you wont have a car. On top of that, car infrastructure, ESPECIALLY parking, makes everything farther apart. The parking makes everything farther apart, which then reinforces the need for cars.