The US Needs to Build More Subways

[Varys 30,916]

Like how do huge cities like houston or dallas don't have them? In Europe many cities 1/4th the size have a subway/metro...

[tylerjs 6,096]

This is a fun conversation topic! I love this stuff lol. The main reason (surprise, surprise) is that consumerism is built in to American culture. When cars started becoming popular, people went bonkers over them bc it gave them a new sense of “American freedom” to travel all over the country, but there weren’t many roads outside of the small existing cities so people were still hesitant. At the time, cities were not interconnected to themselves or others in a car-oriented sense, and people relied on busses, planes and some limited above-ground train systems to go long distances. Enter: American car companies, who basically determined that the way to get a car into the driveway of every American possible was to build the road systems to make them more enticing. This birthed highways, interstate connections, and actually turned a lot of markets upside down. Malls eventually are created out of this—centrally located shopping areas with tons of parking that everyone could drive to, park easily at, and do all of their shopping in one place. The cities then expanded around those roads and businesses as more people drove in and out of them, and now we have immense webs of horrific highways and shopping districts lol. Now cities have very little option other than building even more highways—it basically got so out of hand and car-focused that now it’s basically too late unless you completely uproot the entirety of each city’s transport grids which, to say the least, is easier said than done lol. I love the history of this, it’s fun! But sad lol. Here’s a quick under 5min video for supplement 

 

[FATCAT 60,896]

Walt Disney HATED highways because of how they ruined cities. His last project, Epcot, was his push for walkable cities in America. If only he'd have been around a bit longer, we might have been able to address some of those issues head-on. 

[dit 46,738]

I do not care for their sandwiches tbh. They are always wet and gushy like a WAP. But if it can make more people healthy as it is is allegedly a better choice than other junk food restaurants then so be it...the obesity crisis in the US is unhinged (not that there is an issue with being obese or big but if it hampers your health of course then it is a problem). 

[Varys 30,916]

3 minutes ago, dit said:

I do not care for their sandwiches tbh. They are always wet and gushy like a WAP. But if it can make more people healthy as it is is allegedly a better choice than other junk food restaurants then so be it...the obesity crisis in the US is unhinged (not that there is an issue with being obese or big but if it hampers your health of course then it is a problem). 

This video was about the trains not the restaurants 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, dit said:

I do not care for their sandwiches tbh. They are always wet and gushy like a WAP. But if it can make more people healthy as it is is allegedly a better choice than other junk food restaurants then so be it...the obesity crisis in the US is unhinged (not that there is an issue with being obese or big but if it hampers your health of course then it is a problem). 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Varys said:

This video was about the trains not the restaurants 

This is what makes GGD, GGD. Ever since Haroon left it went downhill

[Varys 30,916]

10 minutes ago, soularpower said:

This is a fun conversation topic! I love this stuff lol. The main reason (surprise, surprise) is that consumerism is built in to American culture. When cars started becoming popular, people went bonkers over them bc it gave them a new sense of “American freedom” to travel all over the country, but there weren’t many roads outside of the small existing cities so people were still hesitant. At the time, cities were not interconnected to themselves or others in a car-oriented sense, and people relied on busses, planes and some limited above-ground train systems to go long distances. Enter: American car companies, who basically determined that the way to get a car into the driveway of every American possible was to build the road systems to make them more enticing. This birthed highways, interstate connections, and actually turned a lot of markets upside down. Malls eventually are created out of this—centrally located shopping areas with tons of parking that everyone could drive to, park easily at, and do all of their shopping in one place. The cities then expanded around those roads and businesses as more people drove in and out of them, and now we have immense webs of horrific highways and shopping districts lol. Now cities have very little option other than building even more highways—it basically got so out of hand and car-focused that now it’s basically too late unless you completely uproot the entirety of each city’s transport grids which, to say the least, is easier said than done lol. I love the history of this, it’s fun! But sad lol. Here’s a quick under 5min video for supplement 

 

Yeah I watched this video already!

Im really into urbanist transit housing city planning YouTube the last 6 months. Yeah the us really ****ed up especially since there cities used to be normal at one time. Glad to be European tbh 

 

[AJRocketMan 2,684]

Subways are so expensive. I personally believe cities need to build streetcars instead. Also known as trolleys.

[Monster7 5,697]

In the US people live in houses very far from each other, everyone needs a car to go to anywhere. In Europe people live more in buildings. So public services, jobs, hospitals, shopping and entertainment venues are a 5 minute walk from everyone's appartments. In bigger cities, subways are an efficent solution to larger distances, since more people live in a smaller place. Almost one million people can live through a single subway line, less than 10 minutes from the nearest station. In US cities, to cover that population you would need longer lines (more expensive) and stations would be more separate (people wouldn't use subway if they have to walk 30 minutes to their nearest stop)

[Neroneau 1,017]

2 minutes ago, AJRocketMan said:

Subways are so expensive. I personally believe cities need to build streetcars instead. Also known as trolleys.

Trams are for medium transit numbers and are slower. A big tram will obstruct traffic. That’s why metros are the way to go. 

[Varys 30,916]

8 minutes ago, AJRocketMan said:

Subways are so expensive. I personally believe cities need to build streetcars instead. Also known as trolleys.

Trams/light rail are great options for dense mid sized cities. In cities as big and sprawling like houston or Dallas they are useless or would need to be feeder lines to a subway system.  Also poorer countries like India and China are in a subway boom. If they can build them or Canada/ Australia can (countries that have the same sprawling cities as the USA there is no excuse why the richest country in the world would not build them because too expensive 

[gothicdream 39,660]

1 hour ago, dit said:

I do not care for their sandwiches tbh. They are always wet and gushy like a WAP.

  

[Varys 30,916]

6 minutes ago, Monster7 said:

In the US people live in houses very far from each other, everyone needs a car to go to anywhere. In Europe people live more in buildings. So public services, jobs, hospitals, shopping and entertainment venues are a 5 minute walk from everyone's appartments. In bigger cities, subways are an efficent solution to larger distances, since more people live in a smaller place. Almost one million people can live through a single subway line, less than 10 minutes from the nearest station. In US cities, to cover that population you would need longer lines (more expensive) and stations would be more separate (people wouldn't use subway if they have to walk 30 minutes to their nearest stop)

That’s why you also need to build transit orient development  next your stations + better feeder bus/cycle lines to your stations. Cities in Canada and Australia do this much better while being also as spread out like American cities

[gothicdream 39,660]

We're building a huge network of (mostly) above-ground light rails in Seattle. It used to only go from Tacoma to Seattle, but now they are expanding into suburbs and other major employment hubs.

It is EXPENSIVE and the whole project is something like 30 years long, but it's worth the investment imo. To pay for it, car tabs here went from like $60 a year to over $200 a year. It was put to a vote several years ago and approved.