Quote:
Originally Posted by bunt_q
Sigh, you have that completely backwards. The commitment to development needs to come first. It just needs to be a commitment to better development. Then we can build people moving infrastructure.
If we built trains like you show in that video, you know what would be different about them? They would have to have the biggest damn park-and-rides you've seen. Otherwise there'd be no people around to ride them.
We don't build trains like that because they'd be a waste of money. It's not a lack of commitment, it's a lack of demand. And the lack of demand is entirely attributable to a lack of commitment to dense development that would generate demand.
You do realize, don't you, that we have plenty of world class transportation infrastructure in the U.S. - world class HIGHWAY infrastructure. Because that's what facilitates the development model we've committed to for the last 60 years. Maybe that's changing, maybe it's not. But even if it's changing, it's changing at a scale that supports some streetcars here and there. Maybe even eventually some grade separated/dedicated ROW light rail. But not large scale heavy rail.
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I am merely talking here about excellence- true excellence which takes cooperation at any level. I am not talking about the technology of systems, I am talking about good design, and, utilizing what one has superbly.
What great transportation systems do, from the Interstate highway system* to India's chaotic yet immensely used passenger train system, is enable people to move efficiently. Such systems do not have to large, or technologically elaborate. Rather, they have to work extremely well and, in addition, have to be in a state of constant improvement.
When mistakes are made in design, and, execution, for whatever reason, the mistakes are addressed and corrected. Whether we have a FasTracks, JR East, or a tourist line, the issue remains the same.
*Into the 1990s.