this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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I have no interest in lobbying the US government on this.
well then please don't shoot down the next best alternative. We would love HSR, hell even faster trains through areas like the Midwest, but no one is building them and no one wants to lobby for them. Until then we're stuck in this car-centric hell, and EVs are the best alternative. (Again, we all know they're not the best, they're the best alternative)
I have no interest in lobbying the US government because I’m not American.
It shows in how clueless you are about the US. Very little mass transit is actually viable. People can't afford to spend 4 hours getting to and four hours getting back from their 10 dollar an hour job. Worry about what is going on where you actually know something about.
The US was built on mass transit. Pre WWII the US was covered in electrified interurban lines, it wasn't until the 50s when the car started to become really popular that these were dismantled and your cities demolished to make way for more highways. Many people could easily benefit from new transit options if they were installed, while for others changes to land use (such as ending single family zoning) would also be need to be made.
@mondoman712
You are partially correct.
The dismantling of public transit in the US started in the 20’s, not the 50’s. GM, other auto and truck manufacturers, and the oil industry began buying up street car and train companies through proxies and then shutting them down. They also used government influence to make them unprofitable.
A former head of GM was made transportation secretary in 1948 and used the department of defense budget to build the highway system, further damaging any chance public transit had of taking hold here.
By the late 50’s we had all but destroyed any hope of having a mixed transit system.
The US wasn’t built by public transit though, it was built by car and truck. Public transit in the post industrial era has always been a pipe dream on the periphery for Americans.
Manifest destiny’s “go west, young man” has morphed into “go into debt, purchase cars and houses, young man.” And like “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” it has always been a lie.
With the legalized bribery system known as lobbying in this country we never had a chance at being anything but a facade of democracy propped up by corporate avarice.
We'll put, but I disagree with you on this point
Many US towns and cities started as railroad towns, and they grew due to rail connections. They had local streetcars around which new suburbs were built. Downtowns were originally walkable and mixed use. Only later were they destroyed to make way for urban freeways and parking, and the post war housing boom's racist policies brought about single family zoning and car dependant suburbs.