Why so much traffic? (country, people, work, cons)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So I'm currently in Madrid, and despite a vast regional rail network, the Metro that extends a considerable distance outside of the central city in most directions, and a commuter bus system that runs coach style buses every 20 minutes or so to far flung suburbs, why is there still so much traffic on the highways? Even the HOV lanes seem lightly used compared to all of the people sitting in normal traffic lanes.
Coming from the US, I always expected if we invested in public transit it would solve many of these issues. But these people (and I presume it's like this elsewhere in Europe's big cities) still appear to shun transit to sit alone in their own cars. I get that the system will never accommodate everybody, but from my experiences in big and small cities around the world with or without good transit, the same traffic still persists on the highways.
I'm no longer content thinking "well at least we are keeping it from being much worse" when it sucks everywhere already. If people are so opportunistic as to fill any empty lanes created by increased transit, maybe they'll be just as opportunistic to carpool or find new employment if we just cut out transit funding altogether since it's really not solving much? And this is coming from someone who hasn't driven himself to work in 8 years...
If you think the traffic is bad with Madrid's extensive transit system, imagine how much worse it would be if it didn't have any, according to your suggestion?
Madrid's traffic has always been awful even after the construction of their belts. They should have relocated companies, ministerios and corporations to other areas, industrial parks. They have limitless flat land, the castilian plateau.
Location: Segovia, central Spain, 1230 m asl, Csb Mediterranean with strong continental influence, 40º43 N
3,094 posts, read 3,575,683 times
Reputation: 1036
Paris also have great rail and metro networks, but still lot of traffic jams within rush hours.
Anyway, European cities are way better by having lot of public transport, so I would say Los Angeles or elsewhere in the United States is much worse so far.
Paris also have great rail and metro networks, but still lot of traffic jams within rush hours.
Anyway, European cities are way better by having lot of public transport, so I would say Los Angeles or elsewhere in the United States is much worse so far.
The U.S. =/= only Los Angeles or some other city. Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Chicago, NYC, you don't need a car. Those 5 cities have as many people as an average European country.
Quote:
Originally Posted by enquirement
The US was built around the car. Europe was built around pedestrians, the roads are narrower and there's more turns.
Vast majority of the US was built around the car; the colonial cities in the Northeast, plus Chicago and DC, not so much.
There are areas in Madrid and Barcelona that were created for cars, the large "avenidas" and great communications built outside historic centers and medieval cities. Many were built one century ago.
Those works exist in every old European city...but when the economy recovered after wars...during the late 50's or middle 60's in Spain...cities became cramped.
There's no space in any of those cities for two or three car per family, the solution would be large scale suburbanization that would be worse. There's no way that people leave their car home, so even with very good public transportation, people won't let cars...that's why cities impose restrictions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
