Posted on 03/27/2023 8:48:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
I have an alternative plan. Lean into work from home and slash expensive services for big cities. Those big cities’ decline is inevitable. Just as their rise was inevitable starting 150 years ago with the industrial revolution. Trying to stop it is like trying to hold back the tide - hopeless, and a waste of time and money. That’s just where we are technologically.
That’s a good thing. Think of all that office space we no longer need. Think of all that money for infrastructure we no longer need to spend and all that gasoline we no longer need to burn every day commuting to and from offices. Earth Mother Gaia is pleased by remote work.
I would tend to agree...usage in Europe is a totally different landscape than in DC/NYC/Atlanta. I’ve used mass transit in Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland and Italy.
The worst you can cite is pickpocket issues. Although I would say in the past five years in Germany...a lot of druggies now gather and hang out in the subway system, and I would spend as little time as necessary in the ‘underground’.
But all of these have spent a ton of money making them both safe and reliable. None of them would survive strictly on ticket prices.
Bing bing,
We have a winner
My company does some business with firms in Switzerland. A few years ago I was over there to monitor one of them while they produced one of our products. Their mass transit is exceptional. Train from airport to hotel, stop literally 5 minute walk from hotel door. Rode bus to plant each day. Train/bus were spotlessly clean, fellow passengers were orderly and quiet, a perfectly sane alternative to driving.
Returned home, drew jury duty. Decided to ride the train, parking there is a pain. Train was OK, but we got out early one day and had to ride the bus. Was a nightmare, loud, disorderly, dirty, full of ferals, honestly felt a little unsafe. Immediately resolved to never ride a bus again. And this was pre-COVID, in a medium size city (Wilmington DE). Cannot even imagine what a subway or bus ride is like now in NYC/Philly/Chi/LA/San Fran.
You know things are getting bad when even the local transit/train fans are saying they won’t ride any longer.
You failed to mention the late great choo choo extert Willie Greene
He loonies running the Peoples Republic of Minnesota Ave have an obsession with trains and have spent billions building a light rail system into downtown Minneapolis. However after the COVID pandemic forced more employers into remote working, the big companies have now realized there is no need to rent expensive space in the shiny glass monoliths downtown. With four decades of failed liberal leadership in Minneapolis, downtown has also become a lawless combat zone where no one wants to work. Those shiny trains are empty of commuters and have become dangerous hangouts for derelicts, druggies and thugs. Trains are a 19th century solution to 21st century transportation issues.
BART might be one of the best systems-—BUT it is VERY dangerous-—Trapped in a tube with a criminal looking for targets isn’t good for me.
Sounds like a great idea.
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