Every big city in Korea is either in the process of building a subway (Ulsan) or has an extensive subway system already (Seoul). I know many large cities have subways like New York or Chicago but I think there should be a push in the US to get more public transportation. It seems silly to have so many cars on the road if we are all going to same places. The main draw back is that people might have to walk to the subway station... and you wonder why so many Americans are fat? Or, why so many Koreans are skinny?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
The Underground
Every big city in Korea is either in the process of building a subway (Ulsan) or has an extensive subway system already (Seoul). I know many large cities have subways like New York or Chicago but I think there should be a push in the US to get more public transportation. It seems silly to have so many cars on the road if we are all going to same places. The main draw back is that people might have to walk to the subway station... and you wonder why so many Americans are fat? Or, why so many Koreans are skinny?
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What can't be ignored about American public-transit is that it has to overcome the obstacle of 50 years of development. The layout of a large number of American population centers prevents the implementation of effective public-transit systems.
ReplyDeleteIt's not an issue of getting people to walk to pickup points, it’s more complicated. Densities around pickup points (re: suburbs) are so low that in order to make transport effective--both in terms of cost and number of passengers--people would need to drive several miles from their residences. This in turn creates congestion problems for people on the way to public transit.
When people have to face congestion on their way to work AND have to get on a train they're more likely to just say "screw it, I'll just sit in my car longer."
Not to say that America can escape the necessity of public transportation by saying it'll be hard. But many cities need to address their development plans before even thinking about large scale public transport plans.