The US Needs to Build More Subways

[beijingwalker]

You have had a huge percent of your population in extreme poverty for hundreds of years yet are you saying you just started your military in the last few?

What is China's excuse for having a military back in 1980 when almost your entire population was in extreme poverty? What is your justification?

Stop pointing at us instead of pointing at yourselves.

We spent more on infra even when we were very poor,. 要致富，先修路 but this is not the point, I m talking about the current situation in US. isn't spending less on military and more on improving infrastructure a better idea? You don't have any countries directly threaten you militarily anyway.

 

[Stranagor]

Or, if they are so obselete, US should close them down altogether. Why is the misery of keeping a failing model?

WTF? Please read post #10 again.


How about how funny it is for the Chinese guy to be saying the US needs MORE subways?

Can we spend the majority of the money on where the other 309 million people live instead of always throwing it all at where only 20 million people live. If a city doesn't have the revenue/ridership to keep their subways open why should the Federal Government throw billions at that subway to make it look nice. Instead of expanding (like the OP video says) maybe the city should be shutting parts down that are unprofitable to help pay for the upkeep of the rest.

MBTA on pace to rack up $53M deficit in fiscal 2020

The MBTA’s yearly deficit is already on the rise as the beleaguered transit agency misses its marks on some revenue targets. The T is on track to end up $53 million in the hole in fiscal 2020…

www.bostonherald.com

I think that would mean pushing things go spiral down.

Besides, is the potential for metro ridership so low? It is impractical if everyone rushed to the rural or city suburbs. Unthinkable, in my view. I am sure, if services are upgraded with investment, there will be more ridership.

I think it is a question of priority.

 

[beijingwalker]

I think that would mean pushing things go spiral down.

Besides, is the potential for metro ridership so low? It is impractical if everyone rushed to the rural or city suburbs. Unthinkable, in my view. I am sure, if services are upgraded with investment, there will be more ridership.

I think it is a question of priority.

dilapidated infrastructure could be one of the reasons people moving out of the cities. Vicious circle.

 

[Stranagor]

dilapidated infrastructure could be one of the reasons people moving out of the cities. Vicious circle.

Indeed. I suspect the dilipidation of infrastructure is not because people suddenly left en masse. Rather, people began to move out as infrastructure gradually went broken and nothing was done to rebuild.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

I think that would mean pushing things go spiral down.

Besides, is the potential for metro ridership so low? It is impractical if everyone rushed to the rural or city suburbs. Unthinkable, in my view. I am sure, if services are upgraded with investment, there will be more ridership.

I think it is a question of priority.

Around the year 1910 along with the subway Boston had a network of street trolleys connecting neighborhoods to the downtown area that came by every minute. With the decrease in trolley ridership in ~1950's they switched to buses. What was once a trolley every minute turned into a bus every 5 minutes. But as the years rolled by and the ridership continued downwards for some it then became every 10, then every 15, then every 20, then 25, then 30 minutes, until some were just discontinued.

I don't see how an increase in investment is going to suddenly get people into those trolleys/buses anymore. They have nice hybrid buses now that are not the diesel spewing monsters of yesteryear. That hasn't increased ridership. Doing the same for the subway doesn't look like it will increase its ridership either.

The people who once were living in cities are now living in new areas outside the city that in 1900 were mostly clearcutted farmland from horizon to horizon. This is where the Billions have been spent.

90% of the Massachusetts population live in these areas and all these people are not moving back to the city so throwing $Billions at Boston to make the subway look pretty is not going to solve anything.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Around the year 1910 along with the subway Boston had a network of street trolleys connecting neighborhoods to the downtown area. With the decrease in trolley ridership in ~1950's they switched to buses. What was once a trolley every minute turned into a bus every 5 minutes, then it was every 10, then every 15, then every 20, then 25, then 30 minutes, until some were just discontinued.

I don't see how an increase in investment is going to suddenly get people into those trolleys/buses anymore. They have nice hybrid buses now that are not the diesel spewing monsters of yesteryear. That hasn't increased ridership. Doing the same for the subway doesn't look like it will increase its ridership either.

I used to live in a university town with suburban density. The entire town was surrounded by cornfields. Half the population was just students. The city bus was extremely good, came every 5 minutes, went to all the major destinations like university, grocery, business parks, a wide variety of residential areas (even suburban neighborhoods of only family homes). Middle/high school kids would take the city bus alongside college students and adults, and there's no issue. In fact many immigrant student parents would be riding the bus with their kids, who got off at the middle/high school and then they'd stay on to get to the university. I didn't need to own even a used car and was able to have savings on grad student income. The sidewalks were wide, lined with grass, and well lit.

I thought, if even a rural university town could have such great infrastructure, surely dense major cities would have even better. So I moved to a major city later for work. I tried to take the bus then too. I walked 20 minutes to a bus stop and they came 20 minutes late, sidewalks just randomly stop at places, homeless guys everywhere. I never saw homeless people in that university town even with median income much lower than the city I live in now. What worked for buses in the university town was 1. safety, 2. frequency, 3. convenience, 4. pedestrian infrastructure, 5. public courtesy. The bus where I live now has none of that. They need to clean up the bus before anyone who has a choice will ride it. A major city can't even catch up to a university town decades ago?

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

I used to live in a university town with suburban density. The entire town was surrounded by cornfields. Half the population was just students. The city bus was extremely good, came every 5 minutes, went to all the major destinations like university, grocery, business parks, a wide variety of residential areas (even suburban neighborhoods of only family homes). Middle/high school kids would take the city bus alongside college students and adults, and there's no issue. In fact many immigrant student parents would be riding the bus with their kids, who got off at the middle/high school and then they'd stay on to get to the university. I didn't need to own even a used car and was able to have savings on grad student income. The sidewalks were wide, lined with grass, and well lit.

I thought, if even a rural university town could have such great infrastructure, surely dense major cities would have even better. So I moved to a major city later for work. I tried to take the bus then too. I walked 20 minutes to a bus stop and they came 20 minutes late, sidewalks just randomly stop at places, homeless guys everywhere. I never saw homeless people in that university town even with median income much lower than the city I live in now. What worked for buses in the university town was 1. safety, 2. frequency, 3. convenience, 4. pedestrian infrastructure, 5. public courtesy. The bus where I live now has none of that. They need to clean up the bus before anyone who has a choice will ride it. A major city can't even catch up to a university town decades ago?

It's probably because that small town doesn't spend much of its budget dealing with a high poverty rate and all the woes that come with it that many US big cities have to contend with. Plus I'm sure they don't have the cost of maintaining infrastructure like an expensive subway system where the ticket fees don't cover the expense anymore.

This should be an eye opener for you. That rural bus was every 5 minutes however this is the schedule for one of the highest ridership bus routes in Boston which goes though some of the poorest inner city sections...and lately for FREE.

https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/route_pdfs/2022-winter/028-01.22.3.pdf

None of the depart times beats your 5 minute frequency..and probably whatever your cost was to board it certainly is paying more than this free Boston route.

 

[TexasJohn]

Or, if they are so obselete, US should close them down altogether. Why is the misery of keeping a failing model?

As Hamartia pointed out, the number of crowded urban areas have shrunk over the years. we keep the subways running for those areas because we need to. In NYC there is a culture of using subways - just like Chicago. Here in Texas, we would rather drive. Is that OK with you?

 

[TexasJohn]

We spent more on infra even when we were very poor,. 要致富，先修路 but this is not the point, I m talking about the current situation in US. isn't spending less on military and more on improving infrastructure a better idea? You don't have any countries directly threaten you militarily anyway.

Not us, no. But if you guys would stop bullying smaller Nations around you we would not need to have a large military to support them. This nonsense of " All of South China Sea is belong to us" has got to stop. How many enemies do you want to make? How many friends does China have? This Xi fella and CCP is going to put your Nation in a bad spot if you guys don't wake up... btw, if we want more subways, we will build them. Right now it's not a huge issue for us

 

[Stranagor]

As Hamartia pointed out, the number of crowded urban areas have shrunk over the years. we keep the subways running for those areas because we need to. In NYC there is a culture of using subways - just like Chicago. Here in Texas, we would rather drive. Is that OK with you?

Those you keep seem to be crumbling and unsafe. Can you please renovate them, or get rid of them altogether?

Not us, no. But if you guys would stop bullying smaller Nations around you we would not need to have a large military to support them. This nonsense of " All of South China Sea is belong to us" has got to stop. How many enemies do you want to make? How many friends does China have? This Xi fella and CCP is going to put your Nation in a bad spot if you guys don't wake up... btw, if we want more subways, we will build them. Right now it's not a huge issue for us

Same here. We got to moderately spend on military to keep you in check. If you stop causally invade others and harass them right next to their door, we, bald eagle, bear and dragon, would all be cute and cuddly.

 

[TexasJohn]

Those you keep seem to be crumbling and unsafe. Can you please renovate them, or get rid of them altogether?

I think we will do what we want with our subways, thank you very much. You don't have to ride them - go ride your Chinese ones in China.

hmmm... are you a Russian living in China?

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Those you keep seem to be crumbling and unsafe. Can you please renovate them, or get rid of them altogether?

There's only 7 subway systems in Russia...we have 14...can you please build more since I guess the rest of your population is stranded in their homes

 

[Stranagor]

I think we will do what we want with our subways, thank you very much. You don't have to ride them - go ride your Chinese ones in China.

Deal. You might as well adopt Indian standard.

Me, I like both Moscow and Beijing metro.

Thank you for listening my suggestions, though.

 

[beijingwalker]

Not us, no. But if you guys would stop bullying smaller Nations around you we would not need to have a large military to support them. This nonsense of " All of South China Sea is belong to us" has got to stop. How many enemies do you want to make? How many friends does China have? This Xi fella and CCP is going to put your Nation in a bad spot if you guys don't wake up... btw, if we want more subways, we will build them. Right now it's not a huge issue for us

2022 just started and the joke of the year had already been created, China hasn't fired a single shot to any countries in 40 years while you guys waged wars, bombing and killing around the world non stop for decades, long before China even came into the picture, do you have any shame making such a claim?

Jimmy Carter: US 'Most Warlike Nation in History of the World'

Jimmy Carter: US 'Most Warlike Nation in History of the World'

Former president says peaceful China 'ahead of us in almost every way.'

www.commondreams.org

 

[TexasJohn]

Deal. You might as well adopt Indian standard.

Me, I like both Moscow and Beijing metro.

Thank you for listening my suggestions, though.

I have no idea what an Indian standard is.
I must admit though, Moscow subway stations are pretty darn fancy! even if the subway cars are more 50s style

2022 just started and the joke of the year had already been created, China hasn't fired a single shot to any countries in 40 years while you guys waged wars, bombing and killing around the world non stop for decades, long before China even came into the picture, do you have any shame making such a claim?

Jimmy Carter: US 'Most Warlike Nation in History of the World'

Jimmy Carter: US 'Most Warlike Nation in History of the World'

Former president says peaceful China 'ahead of us in almost every way.'

www.commondreams.org

You are quoting Jimmy Carter? the most worthless president in recent history? oh wait, Biden is here too.... see? we can be critical of our presidents and no one will destroy our "social credit" or send us to a Gulag for "impure and wrong thoughts"! LOL
Ah, yes it has been 40 years since Vietnam handed your *** to you on a silver platter hasn't it?
my, my how time flies!!