Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
The US has poor rail and public transport systems for one simple reason - Population Density! (or the lack thereof.)
Consider, France has 64 million people in an area the size of Texas. Texas has 23 million or so. Much of the US has similar densities. In addition, Texas cities have no geographic limiting features, so they can sprawl to the populace's content. The result is too low of a population density to economically support mass transit. Certain US cities, New York, San Francisco, Boston, ect. have geographic limits which force building upwards, providing the density to support mass transit.
As to rails, well, LA to New York - over 5000 Kms. Dallas to NY - over 3000 Kms., NY to Miami, over 2000 Kms. Flying is so much faster than rails over those kind of distances, that the result is poor rail service. It's a niche market.
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And the primary reason for that sort of population density?? The automobile. The suburbs were a creation of the post war automobile society. Same with what they call "urbran sprawl."
Not saying it's anyone's fault ... just that the lack of really good public transit in the United States has almost everything to do with our love of the automobile.