Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
It really has a lot to do with the space differences. There is a LOT of ground to cover in the US. Japan is not all that large to begin with, so a) there is less distance to cover and b) there is less space for personal vehicles.
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Nyororin,
That is the thought usually presented when this subject comes up, but it really does not necessarily fit as a major roadblock to developing mass tansit where it would work. You are completely correct that covering the entire USA woukld be totally problematic, at best. But Japan is about the same length as northern Maine to the tip of Florida. Yet you can get reasonably decent mass tansit along that whole length.
The US heaviest population centers are heavily concentrated along the costal areas, East and West. So a decent mass transit sustem serving basically the same kind of land mass as Japan has that serviced mainly the costal areas would be little differnt in scale than what is happening in Japan. Then maybe a couple major high speed lines across the country's midsection for coast to coast transit. That would go a long way to cutting dependence on imported oil and toward cutting pollution.
Another BIG issue in the developemnt of effective and widespread mass tansit in the USA is the cheap gasoline that allows the personal car to actually be a viable option. If the price of gas were to jump to what it is in Japan, and the toll roads get as expensive, people would be demanding good mass transit.
Of course with the USA's economic situation at the moment, we can't even afford to build a wooden kid's play car, so a huge mass transit investment is WAY out of the picture here
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
Add to this the length of time the public transportation systems in the US have been a poor option (due to limited lines, limited schedules, poor management, etc)... And you get an image of public transportation as something inconvenient and as a last resort choice. Which, well, in it's current state, it is in most places.
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Yeah...... absolutely true. The personal safety and "travel experience" of mass trainsit in America is a BIG issue to overcome. That is another cultural roadblock issue.
I live only about 60 miles northwest of Boston. Only about 15 miles from the third largest city in NH. I have to drive a persoonal car 1/2 hour to just get to a place that has ANY bus service in to Boston. There is no "mass transit" possibility to get there at all. (There is an 8 lane highway [bi-directional] running out of that city to Boston though.) And the bus schedule to Boston from there (major NH city) is absolutely awful. There is absolutely NO passenger train service at all from around here into Boston. There is absolutely no mass transit option here to get into even the next-door bigger town from me which is about 5 miles away either. Of course my small town does not have any either.
Outside of major cities in the USA ........ mass transit is not really available as an option even if people wanted to use it.
best,
...............john