Imagining a City Without Its Public Transportation (metro, suburbs, highway)

[bolehboleh]

Imagining a City Without Its Public Transportation - Commute - The Atlantic Cities

This is a very good article that shows how the elimination of mass transit would negatively effect everyone, not just transit riders.

[Bunjee]

I don't have to imagine. I was stuck in the '05 NYC transit strike.

[Katarina Witt]

The article is all about hypothetical situations. It's even harder to predict human behavior than it is to predict climate change. I don't see much point in it.

[Marius Pontmercy]

Originally Posted by Katiana

The article is all about hypothetical situations. It's even harder to predict human behavior than it is to predict climate change. I don't see much point in it.

You have to admit that DC without transit would have to look different though. Transit access in large part dictates development patterns. Without the Metro DC would probably look something like Houston.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Marius Pontmercy

You have to admit that DC without transit would have to look different though. Transit access in large part dictates development patterns. Without the Metro DC would probably look something like Houston.

Certainly it would look different. The model, however, seems to assume that the developments would be as they are now. I think the exercise is essentially useless.

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Certainly it would look different. The model, however, seems to assume that the developments would be as they are now. I think the exercise is essentially useless.

Well then a better assumption would be that D.C. would not be able to develop such a large building density downtown without Metro. The city would look more like southern or midwestern major cities that have most of their job concentrated in the suburbs. Subway's are actually the only reason the biggest downtown's are in the northeast plus Chicago and San Francisco which also have subways so there is a clear connection.

[wburg]

The model is based on what would happen if the existing transit system disappeared, not theorizing what would have happened had never existed. Not quite the same thing.

[wburg]

It looks like without public transportation, the road transportation system would be even more expensive than it is now:
Streetsblog: Transit's Not Bleeding the Taxpayer Dry--Roads Are

Non-users fork over $779 per household for roads — as opposed to $50 for transit. But most drivers still believe that transit eats a huge chunk of transportation funding while roads are self-supporting. SSTI wanted to dispel that notion, said study author Bill Holloway.
...
“The 3-C interstate highway corridor from Cleveland through Columbus to Cincinnati cost 7.5 times more to build than the 3-C passenger rail corridor would have,” the group notes, “and requires 18 times the level of annual appropriations to keep the highway in good repair (more than $200 million annually).”

[nei]

Originally Posted by wburg

It looks like without public transportation, the road transportation system would be even more expensive than it is now:
Streetsblog: Transit's Not Bleeding the Taxpayer Dry--Roads Are

But if the highways get more users wouldn't it be likely that the total cost would be higher than transit?

[wburg]

I kind of figured that was the point.