Loki Boone

Ms. White

English

05/25/2022

Transportation may just seem like motor vehicles, maybe a train.

America used to be a global leader in public transportation, but the effects of the American motor industry are strongly felt to this day,

transportation is much more than cars and buses, and hopefully, soon more Americans will realize what lies beyond vehicles.

Why are cars a problem?

Have you ever felt like the endless rows of parking, and massive highways were boring, or ugly? Maybe there’s a way to fix some of this?

In the early 1900s, Los Angeles, and many other major American cities had The best Public Transportation in the world. A massive network of trolleys sprawled across Los Angeles. This system single-handedly proves that there are other ways than a purely car-based system.

Cars may not seem bad to you, but all traffic jams are a result of a lack of alternatives. If your only option to go to work is a car, and so is everyone else’s, obviously it’s going to create horrible traffic.

In most American cities, cars are the only reasonable option to get around. You may not like public transportation, but in America, we don’t have a chance to even experience proper transportation. Only a handful of American cities can compare to other cities elsewhere, most cities in the US can’t even compare to many major cities in Africa.

Our best-of-the-best transit systems can barely compare to much smaller cities you have never even heard of.

Cars are not bad. but the way we use them is incorrect.

Nobody needs a massive vehicle if they just wanna go a few miles to the grocery store, But it’s not our fault. We have no other alternative. In a place designed for cars, a few mile walk is unbearable for most, however, in many European Cities, you can walk seemingly forever without realizing it because it’s actually enjoyable.

Having a 2000 lbs hunk of metal zooming past you is not enjoyable to walk near. Many suburban communities don’t even have sidewalks.

For one reason or another, cars are causing so many problems.

and if we can’t even imagine a world without them, how are we supposed to create a better America?

You do not have to make use of public transportation. But if the ones who don’t have to drive, don’t. Then driving will be fun again.

The need for public transportation

From Busses to Trains, Public Transportation comes in many forms,

In all, its forms, the efficiency of public transportation is incredible.

An average bus Holds 40-80 Passengers. Cars hold 2-8 generally. Most people drive with 1-2 Passengers. Trains are even more efficient.

Amtrak trains hold anywhere from 200-600 passengers and that's just American trains.

Metro systems can hold 300-2000 people per train.

An uber can pick you up anywhere in a city, Cars may be able to Drive anywhere,

But you know what else can go anywhere?

Bicycles! They can swerve in between cars, go faster routes, and they are much more efficient than cars if you're the only one who would be using it.

Cars are extremely inefficient, and one of the many reasons people prefer them is, they offer unparalleled personal freedom. But are we actually achieving freedom if it's most people's only form of transportation?

Many places that offer “Amazing” bicycle and or transit infrastructure, would be disappointing for many Europeans.

There are troves of studies proving the effectiveness of public transportation.

The number of problems a lack of proper transportation is crippling our country,

Transit is not for people who don't have a car. In a country with good public transportation, you don't even want to drive a car.

Common counterarguments for Public Transportation.

“Oh, but the buses, & trains, will clog up our streets!”

Many studies prove that transportation access significantly decreases traffic on the road, by providing alternatives for the people who don't want to drive, so they don't have to drive.

“I don't wanna be on an (X- Transit Type), it's sketchy, and there are homeless people.”

In America, after cars became the sole method of transportation, we started to view public transit as a way for poor people who can't afford a car to get around,

In many European, and Asian countries, the poorest to the richest use public transit. If we change how we think about it, we can make it nicer, and more inviting.

“It's always late, and only has certain stops!”

This is something that Local Municipalities have to change.

It will require better funding and higher ridership, to encourage cities to focus more on it.

And in many cities outside of America, the coverage of transit networks are certain to bring you close enough to your destination, that you can take other means of transportation.

And transportation hierarchy is important.

Let's say you're going to your friend's house in Brownsville, you're 50 miles away in Frankville.

You get on your bike and ride over to the nearest bus stop. You hitch your bike on the bus, and you wait until it stops at the train station. Then on the train, you quickly get to the Brownsville station.

There, you take the metro to the closest stop to your friend's house.

There, you bike or take the bus to your friend's house.

That is the Transport Hierarchy.

It may be easier to stay in one vehicle the whole trip, but for everyone else, it ends up being much more efficient. Instead of everyone going to different places in their own vehicles, they- are all in the same vehicle, which regularly goes the same route. It creates a lot of opportunities for most. Especially if they live, or work in transit-oriented developments.

How do we go about creating a better transportation network?

A common misconception is that “America was built for the car.” But it couldn't be any more different.

As I said in previous paragraphs, Los Angeles had a world-class transportation system.

It is not a conspiracy that American car companies bought the trolley companies, and demolished the systems in favor of their shiny new buses.

There is much evidence proving this theory, and whether or not this is true, the people liked their system.

In the Netherlands around 1970, the city of Amsterdam had been filled to the brim with Motor Vehicles, without nearly the infrastructure to support that.

Unlike America, Amsterdam was able to remove most cars off the street, in a much poorer country, and in a post-war world.

But they fixed it, and this is how.

They started simply by reducing speed.

Speed limits do not work unless the street is designed to slow down traffic.

Things like: shortening the width of the road, large sidewalks, and large obstacles, all reduce the speed of vehicles by making the driver more aware of their surroundings, and they pay a lot more attention when they have pedestrians to look out for.

Bike lanes may just be painted lanes on the road, But studies have shown that these actually are less safe than just riding in the street, Because Amatur bicyclists get a false sense of security.

In the Netherlands, they have protected bike lanes, which are much safer than any bike lane in all of North America.

Bike lanes

Bike lanes may just be painted lanes on the road, but studies have shown that these actually are less safe than just riding in the street, Because Amatur bicyclists get a false sense of security.

In the Netherlands, they have protected bike lanes, which are much safer than any bike lane in all of North America. These bike lanes are separated from the street, either by having parking then the bike lane behind it, which provides excellent safety for not much money.

Or they will be fully separated from the street with the sidewalk, or grass in-between.

These usually have top-class safety, and are one of the main reasons people love to bike in Amsterdam, and other cities in the Netherlands, or Europe.

They are still building their vast network of bike lanes to this day,

It wasn't always like this.

As I said, the Netherlands was filled with cars. They built all of this amazing infrastructure from what was before.

And that proves that we can do the same.

How do we implement what other countries have done into our own cities?

With all the amazing achievements of European and Asian nations, how can we learn from them, and build better cities?

The first thing that needs to be done is simply informing people about how we can fix many of the problems affecting North American Cities.

Decades of brainwashing by large car corporations has led to the populous, not regarding how horrible North America’s transportation infrastructure has become.

We need to educate our peers and elders on the reality of our transit system.

There are many ways to fix our transportation, but I suggest checking out these resources.

https://www.strongtowns.org (Great recourse for the movement to fix our cities.)

https://www.youtube.com/c/NotJustBikes (My favorite YouTube channel explaining how we can build better cities.)

https://www.youtube.com/c/RMTransit (Popular Channel For transportation.)

https://www.youtube.com/c/CityBeautiful (Channel explaining topics relating to civil-engineering.)

https://www.youtube.com/user/donoteat01 (Explains problems that cities face in the form of the video game Cities Skylines.)