The Great Train Robbery
15th May 2023
We will soon be leaving the first quarter of the 21st century behind us. But in the minds of our transportation planners, the punditry, and some real estate interests, the way forward is actually to step back to the glories of the 19th century. At the state level, and most significantly in Washington, we are about to pour an unprecedented $20 billion more into transit, especially subways and other trains. This is folly: changing demographics and geography, as well as new technologies, suggest a very different future for how most of us get around. We are simply not going to become a nation of train travelers, and it would be pointless—not to say destructive—to try.
There’s nothing new here. Much of the national media, in chorus with urban political and economic leaders, have been pushing these train-focused approaches since the days of Jimmy Carter. The stated aim is usually to move Americans away from their supposedly evil and pernicious love of the private automobile. Americans drive not because they irrationally love cars—although some do—but because it is simply by far the best way to get around.
Trains take you from where you aren’t to where you don’t want to be. That was fine when the alternative was horses or bicycles, but we have moved beyond that now.
May 15th, 2023 at 07:14
An often-ignored factor in the resistance to mass transit is simply the advance in so-called “civil rights” or conversely, the loss of the ability of localities to keep out undesirables. No matter your poltical view, it remains a fact that various races, cultures and SES (economic status) groups have dramatically different qualities of life. Urban mass transit is hardly a new idea; New York and Paris had subways in the 19th century. Until the mid-20th century, large American cities had highly functional trolley or bus routes even though most lacked subways. Cities had a large population of middle and “working” class (that actually worked for a living.) Various legal changes since WW II hollowed out most cities, leading to an exodus of whites and many jobs. Only a few wealthy remain in their enclaves, surrounded by a majority of poor, dangerous malcontents. Turns out that the newest, or best-maintained subway line or bus won’t attract ridership when homeless people sleep, shit and piss in the stations, display their full dysfunciton onboard and sometimes attack or kill innocent bystanders.