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Biggest reason is NIMBYists. Who stop ever single project they don't want in their neighborhoods for whatever reason. Many projects including viaducts were planned in the 60s or 70s but never built. Resulting in an incomplete system that lead to many later headaches. I.e why the porition of LA west of downtown is so underserved by both freeways and metro system.
Other buracracy and partisonship, we couldn't just argue became most Americans don't like to use transit, even more so since COVID with fear, social distancing, and mask mandates, as the road and airport infrastructure is falling behind the rest of the world despite heavy use.
But one other reason is accountability an argument for NIMBYists they don't trust the government who had been known to wiggle their way out of accoutability should some thing go wrong i.e if an entire city blocks caves in due to a tunneling mishap and government refuses to conpensate.
This is true.
Its also why there isn't convenient retail in many places. You are more likely to have convenient retail in a city like Houston that isn't zoned or other cities with a light hand in zoning than in these heavily zoned places.
06-09-2022, 09:13 PM
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Can be quite rare for a "Well Developed" country. There is tons of Low Density Houses, and people just love their own cars. Is society suppose to leave them alone? Let's try to encourage them. In gentle form/not extra aggressively. Quite easy to lose a Driver's License temporarily if there is just even one error in driving. How traumatizing. Need some equal alternatives. That is called another form of flexibility/freedom.
Look at the ridership on Dallas's light rail lines. Some of the lowest ridership per mile in the country. And it is mostly grade separated, unlike many of the new rail lines.
One reason why: DART made the same mistake Cleveland made when it built its Red Line heavy-rail subway in the 1950s, namely, running it along an existing railroad ROW because it was there already.
Not all unused/underused railroad ROWs are equally valuable as potential transit lines. Those that once carried commuters, like the Boston & Albany's Highland Branch in Boston's western suburbs, may have potential (and did in that case: it became the Riverside (D) Green Line branch in 1957 and has healthy traffic to this day).
But abandoned freight lines may not work so well. Most of Cleveland's Red Line stations are located just a bit too far away from where people actually want to go for the people who want to go to those places to use it. DART suffers from the same defect, with few exceptions.
There also seems to be a structural issue with local governments and local transit agencies in America that make transit so bad.
Here is an interesting video about a ridiculous project by SEPTA:
I can't quarrel with Armchair Urbanist's assessment of the value of the KofP Rail project, and just about everyone here not affiliated with the King of Prussia (Business Improvement) District agrees with him on that.
And just about everyone except the solons at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, Greater Philadelphia's Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for transportation, also agrees that both BSL extensions would be far more worthwhile. (The DVRPC removed the Northeast Spur [Roosevelt Boulevard] subway from its long-term list of projects for the region back in 2015. At the time that happened, I wrote an article holding out hope that it would live to see another day, and it might still, but no one's holding their breath waiting for this to happen.)
And while I get that some of AU's snark about both the NHSL and the place where SEPTA plans to take it are based part on entertainment value and part on both ignorance of the details and the lack of need to explain them in this video, he did get one big detail wrong.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's board consists of 15, not 11, members. Originally, it had only 10: two from each of the five counties it served. In the 1960s, there was much greater city-suburb animosity than exists now, and having a board weighted by ridership probably wouldn't have flown with the four suburban counties. (In addition, the company that operated service in Delaware and much of Montgomery counties, Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company ("Red Arrow Lines"), was not hemmoraging money the way the Philadelphia Transportation Company was in the city, and that company didn't sell its system to SEPTA until four years after the agency was established in 1964.)
Anyway, to reflect the heavier ridership in Philadelphia, the two city members on the board were given veto power over any Board motion. The trouble was, a veto could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the Board. The four collar counties had eight seats total. I don't think I need to explain what that meant for the veto power.
When the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania finally developed a means of providing dedicated funding to mass transit in the state (one that blew up in its face, but that's another story), the board got five additional members: one appointed by the Governor and one each appointed by the majority and minority party leaders in both houses of the General Assembly. Now, this means that, at least in theory, the city members' veto may have some teeth these days, since it is not a foregone conclusion that the five state-appointed members will vote with the suburbanites. But in practice, the suburbanites still dominate the board, in part because if the suburbanites vote as a bloc, only two of the five state appointees need to vote with them to override a city veto.
But yeah, just about everyone here agrees with AU that this project is a total waste. I think one of the other reasons it presses forward, however, is because KofP is the largest shopping and employment center outside Center City in the region — its the biggest of all Greater Philly's edge cities, second only to Tysons (Corner) outside Washington in size among all East Coast edge cities, and home to the second-largest shopping mall in the country in terms of total retail space (the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis is larger, but it has an indoor amusement park in its center; remove it and KofP has more retail space).
The one advantage it has over the current setup is that its vehicles won't get stuck in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway as the two express buses connecting Center City with KofP do now. But the transfer at 69th Street will probably depress ridership somewhat even after taking that into account.
BTW, King of Prussia gets its name from a Revolutionary-era tavern, preserved but not in business, named in honor of Frederick the Great, who provided crucial assistance to the American forces in the early years of th Revolution, when Washington was camped out at nearby Valley Forge.
I can't quarrel with Armchair Urbanist's assessment of the value of the KofP Rail project, and just about everyone here not affiliated with the King of Prussia (Business Improvement) District agrees with him on that.
And just about everyone except the solons at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, Greater Philadelphia's Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for transportation, also agrees that both BSL extensions would be far more worthwhile. (The DVRPC removed the Northeast Spur [Roosevelt Boulevard] subway from its long-term list of projects for the region back in 2015. At the time that happened, I wrote an article holding out hope that it would live to see another day, and it might still, but no one's holding their breath waiting for this to happen.)
And while I get that some of AU's snark about both the NHSL and the place where SEPTA plans to take it are based part on entertainment value and part on both ignorance of the details and the lack of need to explain them in this video, he did get one big detail wrong.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's board consists of 15, not 11, members. Originally, it had only 10: two from each of the five counties it served. In the 1960s, there was much greater city-suburb animosity than exists now, and having a board weighted by ridership probably wouldn't have flown with the four suburban counties. (In addition, the company that operated service in Delaware and much of Montgomery counties, Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company ("Red Arrow Lines"), was not hemmoraging money the way the Philadelphia Transportation Company was in the city, and that company didn't sell its system to SEPTA until four years after the agency was established in 1964.)
Anyway, to reflect the heavier ridership in Philadelphia, the two city members on the board were given veto power over any Board motion. The trouble was, a veto could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the Board. The four collar counties had eight seats total. I don't think I need to explain what that meant for the veto power.
When the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania finally developed a means of providing dedicated funding to mass transit in the state (one that blew up in its face, but that's another story), the board got five additional members: one appointed by the Governor and one each appointed by the majority and minority party leaders in both houses of the General Assembly. Now, this means that, at least in theory, the city members' veto may have some teeth these days, since it is not a foregone conclusion that the five state-appointed members will vote with the suburbanites. But in practice, the suburbanites still dominate the board, in part because if the suburbanites vote as a bloc, only two of the five state appointees need to vote with them to override a city veto.
But yeah, just about everyone here agrees with AU that this project is a total waste. I think one of the other reasons it presses forward, however, is because KofP is the largest shopping and employment center outside Center City in the region — its the biggest of all Greater Philly's edge cities, second only to Tysons (Corner) outside Washington in size among all East Coast edge cities, and home to the second-largest shopping mall in the country in terms of total retail space (the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis is larger, but it has an indoor amusement park in its center; remove it and KofP has more retail space).
The one advantage it has over the current setup is that its vehicles won't get stuck in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway as the two express buses connecting Center City with KofP do now. But the transfer at 69th Street will probably depress ridership somewhat even after taking that into account.
BTW, King of Prussia gets its name from a Revolutionary-era tavern, preserved but not in business, named in honor of Frederick the Great, who provided crucial assistance to the American forces in the early years of th Revolution, when Washington was camped out at nearby Valley Forge.
Very informative post and interesting details about King of Prussia, thank you ;-)
Big problem is too many agencies are obsessed with captive riders. They'll ride anything, even a rickshaw! Junky buses, slow service, no problem. By contrast. Choice riders (those with reliable vehicles or the ability to ride bicycles) want safe, comfortable modes that can beat rush hour traffic. Typically rail. Maybe BRT. Agencies would do better by serving Choice riders; they are more likely to pay Federal Income Tax and be registered to vote, which makes politicians take notice.
This is just magical thinking about high speed rail.
Amtrak estimates that it would cost $500million per mile turn the NE Corridor into true high speed train. California is currently at $154 million per mile for its high speed train install. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammil...h=1a12f30e108c
Where is the money going to come from? Why would high speed rail ever go to low density areas like SNJ? The cheapest Acela round trip non-refundable ticket between NYC and Philly (about 100 miles) on a week day is $199 for 1 person. A regular Acela ticket is over $300. How much would Amtrak charge for a ticket after spending $500 million/mile to go to true high speed rail?
If by some miracle there was HSR near you in SNJ, would you also be willing to pay $500 for a round trip to NYC? What if you travel with another person? Are you going to pay $1000 for two tickets? If you drive it is going to cost a tank of gas ($60) and tolls ($50) for your round trip to NYC.
With the exception of a few areas in the US, high speed rail cannot compete with cars and jets.
If Amtrak estimates $500M per mile, the actual tab will be closer to $1B per mile. It's the government, nothing gets done on time and on budget.
Which is why I want any such endeavor to be privately funded. If you want to **** away your own capital, that's not my problem as a taxpayer. In fact, HSR advocates should chip in their own money on such a project if they believe it will be so popular.
I do get very puzzled and sometimes wonder why an amazingly advanced country like the US has such a poor public transportation system. Why are the suburbs so poorly connected to each other. Why is it so so car dependent. Why is there not a mandatory strip mall with all every day thing kind of stores within walking distance of homes. Why is the walking factor so hard to find in towns? I feel strongly that the popularity and likeability of a town comes from how accessible it is for people without taking their cars out.
E-bikes are bridging the gap somewhat. The car to go a mile and a half is a hassle (wait for it to warm up or in summer vent out) then parking or cover that mile and a half in 4 minutes on an e-bike.
I'm basically shut out of public transportation because I do field work. Sometimes I might use it on a weekend, but if I have to go to all kinds of different places across the state during my workday, I won't ever be able to use it for work. Might as well live out in the suburbs, too. If I have to drive for hours no matter where I live, I might as well just save the money
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