Why The U.S. Gave Up On Public Transit

This video buried the real issue; American LOVE the suburbs. Where there is high density (like NYC or Washington DC), America has good public transportation. However, most Americans prefer low density housing.
Also, Americans LOVE cars. Given the choice, people prefer private over public transportation. You don't see celebrities flying Delta for a reason.

Corporate lobbyists. Whenever new ideas for public transportation would be brought up in an effort to make travel seamless throughout the country or even cities. Most of them never happen due to lobbyists for the industries that are making millions maybe even billions of dollars off of the current status quo. Imagine if traveling by train was streamlined, efficient and convenient? The airline industry would take a massive loss in revenue. This is one of the reasons public transportation in this country is so bad. That and you have not so nice people that ruin public transportation for others.

bcase usa costs money money money in wars around the world.

PT has been aggressively sabotaged by the automotive industry for over 80 years

Waited 90 min for a bus from Melrose Ave to Santa Monica and commuted 2 hours from DTLA to Anaheim Disney back in 2005 the era when there was no google map 😢

✨️car corporation lobbying✨️

One word Automobiles

Anyone who’s been on the NYC subway or SF BART knows what social hell those things have become.

I really hate the phrase “America loves cars”. Lobbied by automobile companies, federal and state governments shoved cars down our throats. It’d be more accurate to say America is entrenched in the idea of car ownership.

Well $79B is nothing for a country of this size. Compare that to the military, corporate welfare, handouts to the rich, etc. A tiny fraction of money.

Conservatives did this, end of story. Theyd rather build bombs than a stable society.

Well, the transit system is still corrupted even with limited infrastructure lol

Public transit in the 2020's is dirty, dangerous and inefficient.

there's only one place in America where Public transport works and that is the NYC subway system

Public transit is just government stealing tax money from workers to give homeless crackheads a place to hang out. That's why it sucks.

Please add "US" to the thumbnail too..

Living in Oahu, I’m glad I’m fortunate enough that everything is walking distance or I could take the bus to get where I need go.

Just let people work 100% remote. Solves a lot of problems.

‘Crime’

It's good in some cities, but horrible in plenty others; I remember in Little Rock Arkansas, the buses stopped running at 8:00 pm Monday - Friday, they didn't go over all the city, buses stopped running around 6:00 pm on Saturday, and was essentially non-existent on Sundays

Cost isn’t the problem necessarily, it’s ridership. The ridership is low because the transit isn’t built around walkable neighborhoods nor do they normally connect walkable neighborhoods to each other. If I have to park and ride at a station, then get off the train and still need to hop in a car or bus to get to my final destination then we’re building transit in pedestrian deserts! That will not incentivize transit and therefore not reduce car use. Develop more pedestrian-focused infrastructure (mix-use housing, retail shops, grocery stores) around transit, build narrow two-way lanes and wider sidewalks, eliminate parking minimums and raise street parking meter rates then you’ll induce ridership demand because the convenience and connectivity to the things we want and need will be there.

Buy a car

People never change their standpoint upon 21; they don’t have to , they just die old🎉

Can’t have nice things when you’re cities are full of black people, and that’s where mass transits exist, it really is that simple

I think less people should drive cuz a lot of people just shouldn’t be driving

I don’t see it that way and I take it everyday

Driving stresses me out and therefor i am a terrible driver but theres no public transit near me. So good luck to everyone in my city I guess 👍

Want the real answer, Public Transit will balance or maybe even put automakers out of business, I can maybe the Japanese Automaker finding a way to deal with it but the big 3 will go to bankrupt 🤣 That's the reason 💯

of course America loves cars we force the public to pay for all the costly parts of cars the building and maintenance of roads as well as the cost of maintaining vehicles while the companies pocket all the profits. And if thei eas anything that gets America exited its profits for rich companies.

I have friends who come here from Europe or China or Japan, some are Americans who have emigrated, and all say how backward the U.S. is with accessible public transit. And the U.S. is backward, way behind those countries. It is very sad. Imagine an infrastructure program that builds "bullet trains" that travel from major city to major city, from coast to coast. Sadly, the automobile and trucking industries and Big Oil will never allow that to happen.

...and not once was the safety aspect even mentioned.

This video suffered from the same silly lack of logic as most other media on the subject. "What's the problem? Government. So then what's the solution? Hmm, how about government!" Stop socialist infrastructure funding of roads. The marginal cost of driving a mile is 0 in most places. Incentives matter.

As an American who’s lived in Europe, if I were to tell anyone what I miss the most about being there on top of anything else, is how easy, safe and accessible public transportation is there. The places I lived, the nearest subway or tram line(s) were only a very short walk away, and then I could easily get around all over the city. You really get to see the community when you’re on the public transit system. You don’t really get to see the community when the vast majority of the population is driving in the box of a car. It’s been 5 years since I’ve returned to America, and there’s almost not a day that goes by where I’m reminded how much I loathe the car culture here. I really don’t like the lack of public transportation and how much American cities and suburbs are designed in a way to make you rely on a car to get almost anywhere. And being in Southern California, you’re really looked down upon for not driving a car. I’ve traveled a few times into Los Angeles using the metrolink (the Amtrak train network that connects the greater Los Angeles area). It takes two hours to get to Union Station in downtown. The regional trains in Europe would have gotten me to my destination much quicker than this. And when I take the Metro rail lines in Los Angeles, the services aren’t so great and there’s this feeling of not being safe while riding the transit lines.

It’s also one of many reasons why America has an obesity crisis. If you use public transportation, you have some form of exercise through walking to where you need to go. Getting around through a car limits that exercise.

And just a side note, there’s been a few times when I’ve been on a station platform waiting on a transit line to come and I see a foreign tourist using the transportation system. I can’t help but feel embarrassed because I know for a fact how much better the transportation system is for them back home.

Cars are amazing transit blows

I wonder why. Lmao these news channels are funny.

People Smell !

The “T” (which is the Boston transit) have issues ourselves. I am surprised it wasn’t mentioned in this story. But we do have accurate times for the most part. The issue is we have the oldest transit system in the country. When ever we have to maintenance the tracks that line will shut down for the work that has to be done.

❤❤❤

I used to live in downtown Seattle. Not only was public transit unreliable but it was also dirty and full of the seedy underbelly of society. No thanks.

The solution is easy. TAKE AWAY BOOMERS DRIVERS LICENSES. They’re too old to drive & when they realize they can’t go anywhere their entitlement will force a new transit systems.

Meanwhile houston is going to make 100 lanes soon 🙄

PUBLIC TRANSPORT DOESN'T NEED TO BE PROFITABLE (and streets aren't either)

Good summary overall, but I wish they had mentioned how much the competition (automobile travel on roads) is subsidized. If people had to pay the true cost of building and maintaining roads and the fuel supply chain (including the US military acting as security for it) in proportion to how much they used the roads AND the charges appeared in a properly labeled toll or tax bill, public transit would be very competitive.

Americaa is a capitalist super power..
Capitalism doesn't promote public spending much..
Rather than public transport it enhances people to become competitive and own private vehicles..

Because the U.S. gave up on its public. Simple.

I take the train to dc area for work everyday and it’s so unreliable. Constant delays. No wonder ppl just prefer to drive

Compared to many public transit systems in East Asia, the US public transit is a white elephant in general.
The Hong Kong metro can’t make enough money to support itself but government will sell the lands where the stations located. That makes lot of money.

It’s a no from me.

It's nearly impossible to do public transit state to state that would not only be massively expensive the space it would need to cover would be immeasurable. I'm european and even I can recognize 1. It's not possible here thought it should be and 2. The maintenance would be insane cost. Can't even manage most of your roads or Healthcare don't even bother with unstable and changing lands.