Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
If we dare to risk a look over the fence to Germany or Japan, we will see people owning cars and still using public transport to a high degree. Just to be fair, this hasn´t always been that way. Public transport, just like in the US, had been on the decline in the 1960´s and 1970´s, when streetcar lines were closed and replaced by bus service. Ridership figures went down at a higher rate than the no. of automobiles grew. Change came in the late 1970´s, when people learned, that it being stuck over an hour in rush hour traffic may be not the smartest way to commute to work. That time marked a change in trend. Streetcar lines were re-opened, ROW´s were being separated from the roads or even put underground, new streetcars were put in service, and ticketing systems were unified in urban areas. This process is still not concluded and each year sees a number of improvements. However, there is a price tag to that. These systems can´t be run as private enterprises, "doomed" to make a profit. While operating profits have gone up, none of the public transport systems we have in Germany recovers its capital cost. They all rely on some sort of subsidy from tax money.. As long as such subsidies are regarded as "un-American" or even "socialistic", any attempt to re-introduce public transport in the US is bound to fail.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag