$900 just to rearrange a few letters seems like a bit of a rip off.
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They started on the Bakersfield-Merced line in 2014 and itâs slated to be done in 2033. So I guess given a mountain of cash, itâs possible for the US to build the part of a rail line that goes through the middle of nowhere in two decades, modulo future schedule slippages.
Thatâs also an urban design choice. Anyway, I donât want to write 50 posts about urbanism. Thereâs lots of information available from people that know more about it and explain it better than me.
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This is really an area where America should just copy the EU passenger bill of rights. in my experience the compensation is fair but not extreme, it does seem to be a deterrent to airlines gratuitously cancelling service when there are other options, and when things do go wrong passengers know what theyâre entitled to and donât go full Karen as a negotiating tactic since their compensation is defined by statute.
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For the north-eastern seaboard we donât even need some 200 mph maglev or what people think of when they hear high speed rail. We just need something that doesnât stop a lot between cities and goes normal train speed, like the Deutsche Bahn ICE lines.
A train that goes 60 mph and doesnât have all the airport âarrive 2 hour earlyâ logistics and doesnât have traffic jams would be superior to car or flights between DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC, Boston
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Not to mention price. We were just in Europe on vacation and we took a train from Paris to Amsterdam, both stations accessible in the city center by transit, reasonable 3.5 hour trip on a ânormalâ train. Tickets were like $US 40. Not $400. Forty.
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I think this is also where I net out.
For the sense of scale, Tokyo to Kyoto covers most of the east/west distance of Honshu and is 8 miles longer than Vegas to LA.
I agree that itâs depressing that America sucks at Urbanism and has opted for 4 lane roads and strip malls everywhere, but Iâm also not convinced that effective high speed rail would fix that.
You are correct. Car dependency is so engrained in North American infrastructure and culture that it will take a century of work to change, just like it took a century of work to get to where we are now.
Itâs always amusing here when the Canadians bloviate about âAmericanâ culture.
Land area of LA and NYC isnât that different
LA has 469 square miles compared to 300 for NYC. And LA is much hillier, reducing the amount of developable land.
Thatâs the City of LA, which is only a fraction of what people generally mean when they say âLAâ. LA County is 4000+ sq miles.
Comparing metro areas is a little tricky. NYC metro area is over 8,000 square miles.
However the argument that LA is too spread out to have a real urban core doesnât seem very strong when the core city area isnât even double the size of NYC. And the city proper has nearly 4 million residents, which is more than enough for an urban city.
Well, the core of LA is pretty urban. I lived in a 30 story building in the core of LA. The problem was that around me were other tall buildingsâthe shops were a half mile away down hill. The location was great for Disney Hall, MOMA, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the local Cathedral. These were all closer than any but a few shops, which mainly catered to workers in the buildings.
I was joking about NY being 10 sq miles, but I wasnât joking about LA being more than 1000. LA is like many small areas separated by natural and manmade landmarks.
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Successful urbanism is less about tall buildings and more about walkable neighborhoods with shopping and stuff near housing.
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When I wanted a pack of smokes I often went to the third floor of a nearby fancy hotel.
Cities evolve, and NY, European cities, and most other places developed more interesting layouts over centuries. The American SW is just weird for cities. Statements about LA could also apply to Phoenix and Houston.
Canadian car culture is virtually the same as the US. I didnât imply otherwise.
This is also an urban design choice. Typically this happens because of zoning and other constraints that are entirely a city design decision.
My attempt to not go on a massive urbanism rant is failing, lol.
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There are definitely walkable parts of LA, I lived in one. But man you get east of downtown and shit gets dystopian in a hurry.