this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
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Not really, the images and travel descriptions you're reading here are the exception, not the rule. The US has great infrastructure, just not for public transportation as there isn't enough centralized usage and the locations are far apart. It would take me 4 hours to go to work by bus, but it takes me 25 min by car.
That sounds like it's a vicious cycle. There isn't any public transport so there are no people using the public transport which causes public transports to be bad, so there isn't anybody using it
It is to a point, but when you reach that point it's just not feasible to have public transportation. The city I work in has a light rail train, it has a robust busing system, but people also travel from 20+ different small towns around this one and at a certain point that system breaks down. If I were to take the bus I would still need a car to get to the next small town where the bus stop into the large town is.
The fact is that the most of the US isn't designed like old world cities which were built with public transportation and foot traffic in mind.
That's simply poor route planning, which could be solved by better bus funding, leading to more buses with more stops and more frequent trips.
I'll direct you to another of my posts rather than having two going.
https://lemmy.one/comment/3795505
"great infrastructure, just not for public transportation" sounds to me like another way to say "shit infrastructure"
Infrastructure can apply to different things, you can have great infrastructure for cars, but not trains. You can have well maintained power lines, but poor internet connectivity. You can have a robust water utility, but a mixed storm and sewer system.
If you're gonna point out one bad part of infrastructure and say all of it's bad then idk what to say for you.
You can go from London to Edinburgh by car (412 miles) in 7.5 hrs or by train in 5.5 hrs.
You can go from Richmond to Charleston by car (432 miles) in 6 hours or by train in 13.25 hrs.