The us really struggles to do anything for the public. A big part of why is racism, but I think a lot of people are also a mix of vanilla stupid and indoctrinated.
It’s definitely complicated. Feedback loops of bad infrastructure planning leading to bad transit which leads to car dependency which leads to car-first infrastructure which is bad…
When I need think about when to catch a bus because the service is infrequent and I don’t want to wait 20 minutes, it usually means that the bus route is circuitous and won’t get me to my destination without some transfers. It’s usually easier to just drive directly even though there’s many costs, hidden and otherwise.
But you’ve got a good point; there’s not as much cultural appreciation for projects that simply benefit the community - “without profit, what’s the motive” seems to be the reasoning.
ETA - there’s no problem evicting people from land to build AI datacentres and highways. But to do so for a train? The horror. My freedom!
Its sooo annoying. There is a railroad track near home. I can look out my window at work and see a train track. You can even see where there used to be stations. it would be cheap and easy. But no. GM needs to sell more shitty cars.
Not with the lack of high speed rail and cost effective public commuter infrastructure in the US. But we’ve got that freedom stuff, or so I hear.
The us really struggles to do anything for the public. A big part of why is racism, but I think a lot of people are also a mix of vanilla stupid and indoctrinated.
It’s definitely complicated. Feedback loops of bad infrastructure planning leading to bad transit which leads to car dependency which leads to car-first infrastructure which is bad…
When I need think about when to catch a bus because the service is infrequent and I don’t want to wait 20 minutes, it usually means that the bus route is circuitous and won’t get me to my destination without some transfers. It’s usually easier to just drive directly even though there’s many costs, hidden and otherwise.
And then there’s the sheer cost of trains in anglophone countries..
But you’ve got a good point; there’s not as much cultural appreciation for projects that simply benefit the community - “without profit, what’s the motive” seems to be the reasoning.
ETA - there’s no problem evicting people from land to build AI datacentres and highways. But to do so for a train? The horror. My freedom!
That was a choice
Its sooo annoying. There is a railroad track near home. I can look out my window at work and see a train track. You can even see where there used to be stations. it would be cheap and easy. But no. GM needs to sell more shitty cars.
High speed rail replaces planes.
Regional rail replaces cars.