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Chicago is a big kahuna, and has a good transit system. I don't know anything about any systems in Michigan. However, out here in the "wild west", metro Denver does have a great system that works well for some people. I think most major cities have transit.
Interesting, but why did you put Denver in with all these mid-sized metros? The Denver metro area has 2 1/2 million people. It's #21 in MSA pop in the US, just behind Baltimore and ahead of Pittsburgh.
Those unable or unwilling to walk the extra distance are less inclined to use transit. Public tranist also serves the crippled just as much as it serves the healthy.
Those that are more willing to walk or bike longer distances find the way is blocked(i.e. someone who lives beyond the end of the cul de sac).
Here is an intresting bit of data on willingness to walk to tranist...it is about 1/4 of a mile more than that and people won't use the bus for the train it is larger.
It makes it harder for a tranist planner to plan effective bus routes. I live on a grid there are 3 major streets each with bus routes that I could walk to. The 4th street is a little out of comfortable walking distance(i.e. I would hate to come home from work and need to walk that far) but I could bike to it with ease or use 1 bus route to get to it.
With a cul de sac, I would only have one exit which would limit me to easy access to one bus route. It would increase walking or biking distance to 2 of the routes and esp. the 4th route. if the cul de sac faced away from it. Instead of walking half a block then 2 blocks east , 2 blocks south or half a block then 4 blocks west to get to the bus routes, I would need to walk out the cul de sac first then walk thoose 2 or 4 blocks.
...
One comment about cul-de-sacs; I don't like them, but one nice compromise that I've seen is a walking path that connected the ends of the streets. Cars still had the dead-ends and so there was no through traffic on the streets, but pedestrians could traverse the neighborhood quickly and easily on the walking paths. You could walk for blocks without ever having to actually cross a street!
Are you a business owner? Sure sounds like it! Work, work, work! Work on your way to work, work on your way home, work all the time for the glory of the company! Forget family responsibilities! Leave those kiddies in daycare and work, work, work some more! And people complain about Walmart.
Chicago is a big kahuna, and has a good transit system. I don't know anything about any systems in Michigan. However, out here in the "wild west", metro Denver does have a great system that works well for some people. I think most major cities have transit.
Transit is no good here. As a young person from Michigan... it's a bit irritating to read and see how Detroit used to have a streetcar system, but they ripped it up because the auto companies pushed a bus system. Streetcar isn't the end all be all of course, but at least you had tracks in place for future improvements.
Another disappointing read is Detroit could have had a subway system back when they were cheaper to build, they will never have that chance again now.
Traveling around the country while seeing cities like Boston, Chicago, and NYC... I just can't ignore how things are/could have been in the city about 30 minutes away from me. To think a city 50 years ago had 1.8 mil and a healthy mid class could steadily decline to what it is now.
I'm not implying that Detroit would be like those other cities, but it should have been our city. There is a reason why many grads from here move to Chicago, San Francisco, and NYC... I put my feelings out nicely, but I know many a young people who get so fed up with the whole "us vs them" mentality in the area that have nothing nice to say.
With that said, at some point I see a turnaround, being a part of that turnaround... not for me, I'm young and want to live in a thriving city.
Transit is no good here. As a young person from Michigan... it's a bit irritating to read and see how Detroit used to have a streetcar system, but they ripped it up because the auto companies pushed a bus system. Streetcar isn't the end all be all of course, but at least you had tracks in place for future improvements.
I've read that streetcars had a decline in riders during that time.
The mistaken entitlement of "Free Parking" is connected to the mess that cities like Detroit find themselves in, K.
Quote:
Originally Posted by weteath
Traveling around the country while seeing cities like Boston, Chicago, and NYC... I just can't ignore how things are/could have been in the city about 30 minutes away from me. To think a city 50 years ago had 1.8 mil and a healthy mid class could steadily decline to what it is now.
I'm not implying that Detroit would be like those other cities, but it should have been our city...
I was born in Detroit. In Henry Ford Hospital.
But I got the 'ell out of the place, because I did not want to commute and live in a suburb - And the quality of life in the downtown was not appealing.
Had their been a subway system, and a rich urban life, I might have stayed.
IMHO: When Detroit tore up the streetcars, and carved deep cuts through its urban fabric to build highways, it was committing suicide. That's a great pity.
Now Detroit has a good chance for revival, building a new LIGHT RAIL system.
If Detroit does it right - THINKING LITTLE ABOUT CARS AND PARKING, and instead focuses on:
+ The needs of pedestrians
+ The need to build density around the stations
+ The need to make efficient connections with buses
+ Providing some accommodation to bikers
Then there is a chance that Detroit can revive itself.
When you have inefficient transport - like Cars - you need to almost make much more room for parking all the beasts. The same number of people on buses or bikes, leave a far lower "storage footprint" on the land.
CARS-ARE-LAST is the philosophy that we need to save America - a country that may be killed, like Detroit, by Henry Ford's invention.
Ask nay merchant who does have enugh or any parkig what he thinks it cost him and its quite high.just like anyhtig else the perosn who own the business decide what they will provide the public but largely its what pays the bills.
Ask nay merchant who does have enugh or any parkig what he thinks it cost him and its quite high.just like anyhtig else the perosn who own the business decide what they will provide the public but largely its what pays the bills.
That's complete nonsense TaxDav.
Do you know where the most successful retailers in the world are located?
Well let me tell you: It is a city with almost no parking : The city I live in, Hong Kong.
Get the transport and density right, and shops do not need to offer Free Parking at all.
Of course, I do not expect self-interested "oil men" from car-dependent places like Texas to know much about the wider world.
Last edited by Geologic; 03-02-2013 at 10:25 PM..
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