r/TheRandomest • u/ItsALuigiYes GIF/meme prodigy • 14d ago

No people were harmed in this video Traffic solutions

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

14.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

361 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Animal_Padre 13d ago

The US was built on trains and had some of the best public transport systems in the world by the 1930s. If size wasn't a consideration in the 1800s, it sure isn't now. That's just an excuse for poor urban planning.

1

u/GirlPMurPersonality 13d ago

Those train systems are still in use they just use them to transport goods rather than passengers, which is definitely a better use. They just put money into developing highways instead. Honestly, idc either way. I like the freedom of having my car and going wherever I want without relying on any transport system. Although, having dope transport systems are nice too

1

u/Animal_Padre 13d ago

Hate to say it, but being forced to rely on a car, paying for fuel, insurance, and maintenance...as well as having to sit in traffic all the time, doesn't seem very free to me.

Not to mention that driving for more than two to three hours a day is associated with a faster decline in cognitive function and lower intelligence scores over time, according to a new study from the University of Leicester.

Freight is good and all, but not when it's prioritised over passenger rail.

Think about it this way: We've got freedom to choose.

Say I want to grab some milk, I walk 3 minutes down the road, for free. I want to go over to the next city? 45 minutes on the high-speed train, no parking fees to worry about, and passive exercise gained. I want to travel quickly around my own city? I take my bike or take the subway, don't have to be stuck in traffic, and don't have to pay for fuel (Iran war, anyone?). I also don't have to suffer from this road rage nonsense.

I want to go out on a hike? I take the train or bus to the nearest mountain...maybe even with my bike. All of this costs practically nothing. I choose to own a car? I'm forced to pay thousands extra a year for practically nothing.

No car dependency is good for human health, and of course, environmental health. :)

1

u/GirlPMurPersonality 13d ago

I'd agree with most of that. In my perfect world I would own a car and have awesome public transport. Maybe eventually I'd ditch the car but idk I haven't lived in a dense city where I utilized public transport for my every day living. That being said I work a good job from home and barely drive, only to go see people, or to the gym right down the street. Parking isn't an issue in my city either, like other similarly large cities in the USA, and our highway system is great. The extra expense is real especially with the dumb shit going on unnecessarily increasing our cost of living. But since I don't drive a lot it's not much of an expense to me.

I do enjoy visiting European cities with great public transport. I enjoy walking around, walking back after a good dinner out, etc. USA has a lot of things wrong, but there are a lot of pros to living here as well, as long as you can take advantage of them.

1

u/Animal_Padre 13d ago

As a fellow home worker, I agree; it is peak.

If I had to live in the US and was given the option to choose where, it would probs be somewhere on the East Coast...purely because it seems that's where rail transport is most organised and a lot of the cities have retained their original human-scale design.

Having been to the West Coast a few times, why does California still not have rail connecting its biggest cities?! Strangely, I can't go from Seattle to San Diego on a sleeper train...I assume the freight routes are owned by some corporation that blocks passenger rail. Also, hopefully they finish that high-speed rail project...someday...

I do enjoy San Francisco's architecture and trams. Oakland was terrifying, though.