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https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/08/how-america-killed-transit/568825/
* 15 minute frequency is where you get a non-linear jump in use... but the US is so horrible the article uses 30 minute maps instead, which still suck.
* "The GM conspiracy" isn't that responsible, streetcars failed even places it didn't go. Cars are the real culprit, congesting the roads, coupled with an American reaction of cutting service to cope, which just made things worse.
"It is not a coincidence that, while almost every interurban and streetcar line in the U.S. failed, nearly every grade-separated subway or elevated system survived."
* We're reminded of the Interstates, with the Feds paying 90% of the cost of a free grid of highways.
* "...also began the ominous pattern of relying on federal funding for capital construction and scarce local dollars for operations and maintenance." So we'll sometimes get new trains like BART or light rail, that then barely run.
* Commuter rail sprouted in the 1980s, partly replacing highway projects that had become unpopular.
* Things could have been different:
"instead of relying on park-and-ride, Toronto chose to also provide frequent bus service to all of its new suburbs."
"When cities like Paris, London, and Berlin eliminated their streetcar networks, they replaced them with comparable bus service."
* 15 minute frequency is where you get a non-linear jump in use... but the US is so horrible the article uses 30 minute maps instead, which still suck.
* "The GM conspiracy" isn't that responsible, streetcars failed even places it didn't go. Cars are the real culprit, congesting the roads, coupled with an American reaction of cutting service to cope, which just made things worse.
"It is not a coincidence that, while almost every interurban and streetcar line in the U.S. failed, nearly every grade-separated subway or elevated system survived."
* We're reminded of the Interstates, with the Feds paying 90% of the cost of a free grid of highways.
* "...also began the ominous pattern of relying on federal funding for capital construction and scarce local dollars for operations and maintenance." So we'll sometimes get new trains like BART or light rail, that then barely run.
* Commuter rail sprouted in the 1980s, partly replacing highway projects that had become unpopular.
* Things could have been different:
"instead of relying on park-and-ride, Toronto chose to also provide frequent bus service to all of its new suburbs."
"When cities like Paris, London, and Berlin eliminated their streetcar networks, they replaced them with comparable bus service."