Seriously, why is this idea being thrown around? It’s not based in reality, and just fuels into pessimism. I’m American, so I’ll mostly focus on what I’m seeing here.
There has been so much progress, even just over the past decade. I think the reason that it feels like not much is being done is because the United States is so Massive. Even just New York can contain Beligum, Switzerland and the netherlands.
Looking at the US on a macro scale could give someone a picture of a country eternally doomed to have shitty transit and suburban sprawl forever. Thankfully, we have a beautiful think called local government.
There are a good number of places that you can go in the US that are very walkable and have good transit. Sure, it’s not on the level of Europe, but it’s definitely a good starting point if we’re talking about progress. Especially if we’re talking about progress within our lifetimes.
There are a lot of cool projects going on in the US right now, such as new rail lines, rail extensions, new BRT lines, and work being done on density. And of course roped into that we can’t forget about the massive California High-Speed Rail project, which if successful could have major implications for rail in the United States at large.
Is this enough? No. But it is real progress, and a sign that we’re at the beginning of real change in this country for transit and walkability.
And if you still think the US is shit and you really feel inclined to move out of your current suburban hell hole, you don’t even have to leave the US to do so. There are cities where you can go today in the US where you don’t have to own a car and can get around by walking. Not everything is a 6 lane stroad with giant parking lots and dead strip malls. We have DC, Philly, Boston and NYC as prime examples, which may not seem like much but NYC alone has 8.8 million people and could sure as shit fit way more.
Sure, we may never live to see the whole US become the netherlands, but I don’t think it’s unrealistic to think that certain places in the US could be seriously be at that level within our lifetimes.
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“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
Also, vote.
Old men only plant trees nowadays to provide shade for their 3 ton shit box. Usually at the expense of sidewalk space 😕
Nationalize the rail system and give us interstate high speed rail dern it
We can only pray 🙏
I don’t think you understand the critique. The problem is all of the single-story and two-story construction. There’s no way to fix that quickly. It took a century to build it all. It’s going to take twice as long to migrate all of that low density into higher density construction and decrease the mileage required to live normal lives. Right now, the average suburbanite has to travel an insane number of total miles to do the basics of what they need to do for their families - food, healthcare, schooling, shelter, clothing, socializing, multi-generational relationships, work.
It’s not like local governments can build light rail or even busses to even 50% of the necessary things. Plus they’d have to change zoning codes against all the NIMBY pushback, plus it would take decades to consolidate those activities into higher density buildings.
No, the USA is fucked and it’s going to remain fucked for a long time.
I just don’t understand how any of this means the US is fucked. For example, in Georgia the majority of the population lives in small area of the state. Even if there’s a lot of suburban sprawl in the area, there are transit solutions that can accommodate for that, and we don’t have to tear up any suburbs to do it.
You’re right. We absolutely could build transit solutions, but people become dejected because we don’t. At least not in many places.
I’m in the SF Bay Area. It’s been dense here for a long time and there’s plenty of tax money sloshing around, but transit improvements move glacially slowly. I want to ride my bike to work. I want to take the bus to my kids pool. But I can’t. The infrastructure isn’t there, and there is no concerted regional effort to build it. Sure, we might have high speed rail in California decades from now, but meanwhile I have to keep driving literally everywhere. Unfortunately.
Yeah I hear you. Fortunately for CA HSR it seems like they’re pretty set on finishing up in about a decade, and I hope that remains the case and you get to see it and use it.
No they’re not going to finish in a decade. That’s only the section between Merced and Bakersfield. Currently planned to finish between 2030-2033 but that’s assuming no more delays and they stay within budget, which is somewhat doubtful. A lot of work has happened, true, but not a single mile of track has actually been laid.
There is no money appropriated so far for the entire line, and so nobody has an idea when, if ever, high speed rail between SF and LA will happen.
No no, didn’t you hear? The US is FUCKED.
there are transit solutions that can accommodate for that,
Do people use it? What is the ridership? Are the stations accessible without cars, or are they in the middle of nowhere?
There’s no money for it, doing it requires obtaining rights of way the city doesn’t have, the belt highways are built specifically to prevent this, etc, etc, etc. The amount of time it would take to build these systems is its own problem. The only way to do it would be under socialist central planning, and it absolutely wouldn’t make any sense to build it into the suburban sprawl. Doing so would cement that sprawl by building additional infrastructure into a footprint that logistically is unsustainable anyway.
it’s going to remain fucked for a long time.
So it’ll just take a long time to un-fuck it. Maybe we won’t even see it in our lifetimes. It also won’t be easy, but if everyone gives up and moves then we’re basically guaranteed failure.
Ebikes can do most errands in suburbs given the proper infrastructure. The only thing they can’t do is a long daily commute, but if we build transit to major job sites then you only have to ebike to the station.
Motorists are psychopaths. Start suspending their licenses. Most people are incapable of safely operating a vehicle. The infrastructure will come when we reach critical mass of carless nimby assholes. That and parking minimums yadda yadda. You catch my Tokyo drift.
Hey I won’t probably live to see France be the Netherlands in biking, but we too move forwards!
I know all the enshittyfication/capitalism in social media pushes Trump(well you have a way choosing your presidents don’t you…) Police murdering minorities, conspiracy theories etc etc etc so people get dopamine locked to their feed. It’s quite infuriating to say the least.
Cheers for you!
A European friend.
I love how this entire post is written in a way that assumes that the US = North America.
In many ways, Canada is even more fucked than America. Many Canadian cities have been amalgamated with their surrounding suburbs in order to usurp urbanists from city governments.
Of course, there will always be a handful of awesome walkable neighborhoods, but they will continue rising in price until nobody can afford living in them. You can make arguments all you want at the local scale, but the macro scale says that we aren’t building enough dense housing to keep up with population growth (in Canada at least), which means we are still not on a good trajectory. Until some of those indicators start moving in a different direction, it’s reasonable to claim that North America is “doomed” in the sense that they aren’t actually addressing the problem, and the problem gets worse the longer it goes unaddressed.
I tried to make it clear that I’m talking about the US because I live here, I said North America so I could loop it in with the current NJB stuff.
Let’s see… we could start enforcing laws that regulate the car industry and ownership. Impound the drunkards car. Impound the asshole’s car that parks in bus shelters. Impound the asshole car drivers that park on the sidewalk. Suspend the licenses of speeders, and other scofflaws. All parking or moving violation fines should be based off of the drivers total assets. So a 1 billion dollar parking ticket would be the norm for a billionaire. Build out more public transit options by using potential future parking fees as collateral. Use eminent domain to silence the nimby. Tie up the automobile industry in court by seeking financial reparations for the damage that they have caused…. It’s a start a least!
The pessimism comes because the overall trend looks bad, and people feel alienated politically and just in general.
I think the overall trend for transit in the US has been pretty good actually, considering where we’re starting from.
It’s because Not Just Bikes dug his heels in about his stance on “North America is a lost cause, I moved to Europe and you should too” and “If you can’t move, go watch another YouTube channel, because I don’t care about your shitty country”.
Watch City Nerd. Dude’s legit.
City Nerd is awesome. But so is Not Just Bikes!
Not Just Bikes sounds like a tool.
I think he has reached a point where he is fed up with the same bad faith/poorly supported arguments like “my country is too big for bikes” or “my car is freedom”. It can taxxing on mental health browsing the comments on his videos, some car brains are very rude and insulting.
“Some car brains are very rude and insulting”
Curious what gives you the impression he feels like it’s not worth making progress?
His direct statements on BlueSky the other day.
Ah that’s sad. Thank you for sharing the sauce!
No problem! For what it’s worth, this doesn’t bother me much. We have him to thank for showing us how bad things are and going viral with it.
The same people saying federal government shouldn’t meddle in state issues are now saying the state should meddle in local issues… obviously because the federal and local levels aren’t conservative enough for their tastes. How anyone could keep up with the mental gymnastics required to defend these inconsistent, contradictory hypocrites is beyond me.
Fuck Texas :(
because people being as cynical as they can because they think it makes them sound smart has been the internet status quo for at least 10 years
I think njb has a point though, the US is corrupt as fuck and the only reason people are living there is because a lot of other people and companies are there.
If you look at Louis Rossmann’s videos of right to repair lobbying and politics videos, it’s obvious how much corporte lobbying bullshits its way around and how the government supports that.
I personally feel that the the current very slow transit progress in the US is just there to make it look like the US is doing something, while atill pleasing the General Motors overlords of the US.
It’s bullshit. Not Just Bikes is the Dutch equivalent to a weeb–a Dweeb, if you will.
I live in the NW US, but I’ve visited plenty of places in Europe including Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and yes, the Netherlands. Nowhere is perfect. Seattle and Portland have flaws, as do Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
It’s a real cynical bitch move to pretend that American cities can’t be improved and aren’t worth fighting for, especially when <100 years ago Europe was a smoldering warzone.
Anywhere can be made better, if people advocate and vote in ways that will make them better.
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There are cities where you can go today in the US where you don’t have to own a car and can get around by walking.
And unaffordable to maybe 80% of the country.
NYC alone has 8.8 million people and could sure as shit fit way more.
If you want to live like cattle and pay $2-3k for a crappy studio, or getting well into your 30’s and 40’s while still having to share an apartment, sure.
Telling people to go to the already-dense areas is not the solution. The solution is to build the missing middle, preferably away from the big coastal cities which are already oversaturated.
I wish you good luck, good sir
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