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toomuchtodotoday at 2:42 AM1 replyview on HN

https://vividmaps.com/public-transportation-in-the-united-st...

Never happens on the timescale of the next decade, maybe two. How far along is California high speed rail? When did they start?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_Rail (construction began in 2015 and it won’t be operational until at least 2031, 16 years later) If you break ground today, you won’t see new public infrastructure operational for at least a decade. Brightline light rail was built in Florida and is approaching insolvency, even with 3M riders per year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightline

We could provide subsidies to move the disadvantaged to major urban cores with public transportation systems, I’d support that. Have to find the funds to do it though. Cheaper than trying to build anything new in the US for sure.

https://dailyyonder.com/half-of-all-rural-counties-are-losin...

https://ecpmlangues.unistra.fr/civilization/geography/map-us...

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/poverty-area-measures...

(Where will those bikes, busses, and trains you mention be built? China, as they are 1/3rd of global manufacturing capacity)


Replies

al_borlandtoday at 3:01 AM

I hear this a lot, but it’s not an excuse for never starting. Amsterdam started taking their non-car infrastructure seriously in the 1970s and now it’s seen as an example for the rest of the world.

“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.”

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