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Transportation and Population in the United States
Litejedi
New York CityRegistered User regular
New York CityRegistered User regular
As the US moves forward into the 21st century, there has been a noticeable trend for people to move to urban population centers. This thread is about how people get around and where they live, and how these two ideas are inexorably linked. Please talk about what sort of ideas you have for development in this area, or even if you think I'm crazy!
I strongly believe in the idea that humanity is at its best when we're crammed together in close proximity, for social, environmental and economic reasons. Urban humans have a smaller ecological footprint, are less likely to be xenophobic (in my experience) and can save time and money working somewhat close to where they live, for example. There movement from the rural and suburban areas of the country to the urban areas makes me happy, as a consequence.
Some of the problems I see with urban living though are:
1) A lack of *convenient*, widespread, mass transportation. Examples of this transportation exist in London, New York and Washington D.C. A significant number of people use the underground trains in these cities, and it provides a great, inexpensive way to get around. It also provides a fair amount of revenue for the urban center, in some cases it even makes money for the city. This ties into the next issue.
2) Comparatively inexpensive housing is more difficult to find in urban centers. I don't really know if there's a good solution for this problem
3) Non-local things tend to be more expensive as the cost to import them rises. This can be mitigated somewhat by a more efficient transportation system.
As you may have guessed, I think trains are woefully underused in this country! There is a reliance on cars and trucks to get things from one place to another. Cars and trucks are great for comparatively quick and precise movement of goods and people, but are quite inefficient and expensive, from what I have seen. The highway system is used to transport goods from one part of the country to the other, when a train can be used at a fraction of the cost. Woo trains!
I strongly believe in the idea that humanity is at its best when we're crammed together in close proximity, for social, environmental and economic reasons. Urban humans have a smaller ecological footprint, are less likely to be xenophobic (in my experience) and can save time and money working somewhat close to where they live, for example. There movement from the rural and suburban areas of the country to the urban areas makes me happy, as a consequence.
Some of the problems I see with urban living though are:
1) A lack of *convenient*, widespread, mass transportation. Examples of this transportation exist in London, New York and Washington D.C. A significant number of people use the underground trains in these cities, and it provides a great, inexpensive way to get around. It also provides a fair amount of revenue for the urban center, in some cases it even makes money for the city. This ties into the next issue.
2) Comparatively inexpensive housing is more difficult to find in urban centers. I don't really know if there's a good solution for this problem
3) Non-local things tend to be more expensive as the cost to import them rises. This can be mitigated somewhat by a more efficient transportation system.
As you may have guessed, I think trains are woefully underused in this country! There is a reliance on cars and trucks to get things from one place to another. Cars and trucks are great for comparatively quick and precise movement of goods and people, but are quite inefficient and expensive, from what I have seen. The highway system is used to transport goods from one part of the country to the other, when a train can be used at a fraction of the cost. Woo trains!
3DS FC: 1907-9450-1017
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Trains become progressively less useful as population density drops, as the initial capital cost of trains is high, while the costs for cars is low. Much easier to drive out 200 miles somewhere then build 200 miles of tracks.
That is a problem, but if you calculate long-term effects and efficiency, you can save money overall right? The problem with us Americans is that we're terribly short-sighted.
The ideal model I see is something where the core of transportation runs on a number of rail lines, with a sort of rentable truck/car model for goods and people once they reach their destination. Ideally cars would only be used for short-term travel, but it's a difficult thing for the US to do, I think, since so many people consider cars to be part of the American lifestyle.
There's also the fact that GM did their damnedest to kill off public transit where they could as well.
Even in the wake of disasters like that recent bridge collapse, it's fantastically difficult to get infrastructure legislation passed -- in the state senate where the collapse happened, party lines attempted to block the passing of the bill and it was only passed because some Republicans broke the party line to vote it in. The backlash, even there where the bill was so necessary, was also so fierce that all of those senators were stripped of their seating on any/all committees.
Americans really, really hate their government lately and trust it for nothing. Expanding the rail system just seems inconceivable. It's not even a good option for most consumers at present, with the need to gouge prices on seats often making trains more expensive than buses and planes between major city centers. I saved seventy dollars by flying from Raleigh, NC, to Philadelphia, PA (nonstop, to boot) over taking Amtrak (which I'd done once before, but vowed never to do again if only to avoid the 13-hour ride.)