Why I have Hope for American Transit 

The world is very changeable imo

Everything can be changed in a positive way, especially for transit/urbanism but ONLY if we have hope that things can change and get better. (which it definitely can!) Hopium >>>> Doomium

Been high on hopium for the last year. I'm gonna fight for things getting done!

NotJustBikes tweeted that people should give up on North America and everyone got mad at him and are posting optimistic takes

​@skysthelimitvideos well, what did he expect? And that's not getting into the inherent racism in his tweet - he must know that not everyone is a privileged white guy like him that can afford to move to another country.

Thanks for your support and I absolutely agree, you need to mix both for effective progress

@@RMTransit Awesome channel! Can you do a video if there is anything new happening with the Richmond Hill subway expansion and also how all day 2 way services COULD be achieved on the Richmond Hill GO line if you were to design it?

It is the grand falsity of life that either A or B is universally better than the other. Every technology (yes even cars) have situations where they are the best solution, and what we should be arguing about is not whether A > B but when is the best time to use A and when is the best time to use B.

Looking FORWARD to all these progress in transit. How do we kludge our politicians to move on this and faster?

Exactly. It’s just we need the stars to align for it to happen. Once it FULLY happens, though, it won’t stop.

This is the most important thing about the US that people ignore

I think this is only in your mind, give me an example...

@@tianzhou1244 The second industrial revolution in the late 19th century that the us absolutely dominated, overnight we went from a country of farmers isolated from another to a country of rapidly growing urban cities populated from people around the world and connected to eachother with the greatest most extensive rail network in the world at that point

@@blushdog99 valid, but I'm referring to recent times, we have not been a force like that since late 19th century..

@@tortellinifettuccine progress is good. Parking lots can be developped, those same highways that destroyed cities are being taken down again, their space being used for community areas, parks and new development. Never give up, ever

@@tortellinifettuccine There are many places that are seeing the light, but there are also places like Texas, though Austin is working hard to upgrade its transit service. Houston has a rail line, but I would be surprised if anywhere near 10-20% of the population have ever used it. Same with Dallas's DART. The reality in many western and southern cities (SFO, Portland and Seattle being the obvious exceptions) is that they have low-density-sprawled so much that whatever rail or high-speed bus transit they have, will serve only a small group of residents. LA for example has more rail transit now than at any time since the heyday of the Pacific Electric, but their ridership is less than it was when it was mainly buses.

We will build an America for everyone

i agree with you but here in chicago i definitely feel like the number of people who are angry and demanding change is much smaller than the number of people who want to be be able to park their car anywhere :(( it seems likely that improvement is going to be lumpy across the country, moving faster in places like portland and seattle and requiring more of a fight in the midwest. still i think younger people are more conscious of the benefits of urbanism and the harms of car culture, and a better future awaits 💪

The bike dude? 😂

However tbh, Netherlands situation is very different, such as how Netherlands has always had narrow streets, and lack large parking lots thus the growth of car ownership post WW2 caused tremendous pressure on Dutch infrastructure with the narrow streets built before cars being constantly clogged and parking becoming an absolute nightmare, which definitely put pressure on politicians to come up with solutions to reduce car dependence. Furthermore, single family homes with large backyards were never the norm in the Netherlands, and they never had American style zoning which completely segregated residential and commercial, which makes transition to bike and public transit much easier due to closer distances and higher density already

Don't kid yourself, the Netherlands has never been remotely as bad as most US cities are today.

@@PhilHug1not just that

Fellow Washingtonian here, I am surprised that WMATA is willing to go headlong into another ambitious project just after finishing the Silver Line expansion. I hope the new lines being discussed become a reality, that Blue loop line could be a great expansion to the Metro system

didn’t know people from D.C called themselves Washingtonians - a Washingtonian from Washington State

It’s a game changer for my buddies who want to go from Long Island to Putnam county, and not have to deal with the stress of booking it through three transfers

It only took 113 years for it to happen. LIRR has been serving Penn station since 1910

And there’s joy in that involvement and steering of the ship!

exactly! Whenever people try to use the excuse of “well politicians don’t care” This is the kind of thing they need to realize!

100%!

At least they're running it relatively frequently (every 8 mins) during peak times and the trains are twice as long as Portland's, but yeah still not the high capacity of metro running every 3-5mins with longer trains. Will be interesting to see how capacity issues are mitigated as the system grows (every 5-6 mins would be cool especially once the eastside line fully opens)

@@andrewswanson4819 Definitely! I really hope they increase the frequency, stuffs already bad during rush hour and will only get worse when the eastside link opens. Hopefully frequency increases are down the line. Would also love if it actually ran 24/7, but im doubtful of that changing tbh.

@ETJeanMachine yeah I ride it almost every day during the week for work and damn it's so packed going south through Seattle around 5pm, even finding standing room can be a challenge...getting off can be even harder. The current transit tunnel through downtown works great imo, once they open the full northern extension and Ballard/W. Seattle pieces then there'll be a second line on the north segment (2 line Lynnwood -> Redmond) which will eliminate the need for everyone southbound north of Seattle to take the same train. How they'll manage capacity given they aren't adding any additional tracks on that segment (as of now) will be interesting - passing lanes/tracks or something maybe?

A skytrain like Vancouver's would be perfect for both Seattle and Portland. I don't think either has the population density to support a regular heavy rail subway or el.

@@edwardmiessner6502 What's the difference between Vancouvers sky train and Seattle's link rail? And what makes it better?

Yeah sometimes the pace of change is frustrating, but I am starting to think LA has a path to weaning itself off car dependence especially in the most central areas (roughly stretching from Santa Monica to downtown). Finish up the purple line, more TOD, a northern extension of the Crenshaw line, tons of bus only lanes, more mixed use buildings. Piece by piece, brick by brick, LA can be better.

Indeed. The latest project that opened a little over a month ago, the Regional Connector, is a game changer. And last year the K line along Crenshaw opened which will connect to LAX next year. Very exciting stuff.

@@Cyrus992 At grade lines and even light rail in general are not the best option in ideal circumstances. The best option are subways but LA is very spread out so building subways only is not realistic. That is why LA has more light rail lines. And except for the first light rail built in 1990, all the other light rail lines are, at least partially grade separated. They either have aerial or underground stations and in some cases both. There is also one line that is fully grade separated and it runs in the middle of a freeway. Though LA is currently extending a subway line as well. Also, the grade separations usually are built to avoid the busiest of intersections or where there isn't enough room to run the line at grade. LA Metro has done a good job in designing their light rail lines with a few exceptions. Smartly building partially grade separated light rail lines is a necessary compromise in order to build more lines and have a comprehensive enough system to serve not only the city of LA but the county too. And, of course, that's directly related to the limited funds available over the next few decades.

@@Cyrus992 Yeah but it's better than nothing

@@Cyrus992 I'm unsure what your point is here

India is probably a good inspiration to look to. Looking at countries that already have established transit systems is hard to replicate due to a difficult transition. But seeing how India managed to push these projects through so quickly is something the US can learn from. Same with China, who also rapidly grew its network and modernized its city in general. All things to learn from instead of thinking we in the US is unique or does things better.

@@neurofiedyamato8763 to be fair the workforce is quiet cheap in India. And since too many people are using the transport (people hanging outside the doors) the people have no problem with the gov to invest heavily into this. Which both is not the case in the US. :/

I don't want to take away from the positivity of the video and all the small changes and improvements in the USA, but what India is doing is a much more dramatic change and it's a lot more impressive! India and China are in their own league right now, no other countries are developing so much transport infrastructure.

We've been hearing about India's rapid buildout of the metro lines in Mumbai, Delhi, and beyond and wish you the greatest success in your endeavors. Best regards, from the USA

@@neurofiedyamato8763 Problem of US is its extreme levels of NIMBY culture and a broken down jurisdiction of a metro area. In US, most of the cities are not 1 big city with under 1 city council or even 1 state. There are hundreds of small towns that are actually neighbourhoods, that you classify as "suburbs". All these towns have their different mayor, different jurisdiction, different way of managing their city. 95% of the management is similar, but there is lack of coordination among the entire metro area. What you actually need is a separate entity that is for the entire metro area. Eg :- Entire NYC area with suburbs of NJ, westchster, rockland county and the northern part, Connecticut' south west part and long island along with the NYC itself should have some city planning body that looks at the entire metro area as 1 place and designs the needs of metro area as 1 big city. India has that, each city has its own Regional development authority whose jobs is city planning, drafting up infrastructure projects from transit, water supply, electricity, etc (anything this needed to run the region). Mumbai has MMRDA which is Mumbai metropolitan region development authority, Which overseas 12 cities and towns that are in the metro area. They have a very long term plan for the city of 20 years down the line what will be needed. I think something like this is needed for the American cities. Also london has this thing of a greater London area where not just london but surrounding towns are also counted as a 1 big city.

I got a sister in NorDal.

Would be impressive to see ~4 minute headways on the core of DART

I live in Irving, Tx and I am very exited for DART's future. Hidden Ridge Station is my home station plus I own a E Scooter. It is possible to live in the DFW without a car. As a native born DFW resident from Grand Prairie, I can't believe this is happening!

Hey fellow Dallasite. I’m optimistic too here. I bought a house near the new Silver Line specifically so I could go to DFW, even though I know the line is controversial. The push back of D2 now allows DART to really up bus frequency as well. 15-20 headways are planned for a few more routes, down from 30-40. Bus stops need a huge improvement as well. I’m also glad DART is trying to get some TOD around stations as well, although that should have happened years ago.

If you think about it, yes this is a setback, but if they can improve service (better trains, better tracks, better throughput) you can increase ridership and then that will increase demand to build out further.

Time for those of us unable to leave to prove that we can start the restoration process. With luck, our grandkids can finish what we started.

This is why I still try to use the busses in place that way my city would be more inclined to build more transit.

With the way the birth rate is going in America right now, i think we should try kicking it into high gear so WE can experience that. A lot of people are not going to have grandkids or even kids lol

Jersey residents 100% need to advocate for the HBLR to actually go to Bergen County and for the Newark light rail to be extended to Elizabeth.

Thank you for bringing this up. Many urbanists like myself love this country, what it stands for, and it’s unique qualities that don’t exist anywhere else and we want to keep these qualities while also living car free, so it needs to be realized that we can have both and that more and more US cities can and are being transformed

I think they should demand grade separated extension of the NLR to Elizabeth. Of course it will be called the Elizabeth Line like the one in London.

Yep, there’s a lot of positive stuff going on! And of course room to improve

I do wish we had been able to get the higher speed for the NLX train from the cities to Duluth. But it's still a win to get it and it taking the about the same amount of time to travel that distance via train v. personal vehicle. I didn't know about our BRT lines but am looking forward to the LRT lines when they are finally finished

@@m.r.6264 having friends who have taken buses or driven up to Duluth recently, as well as having done the trip myself, I seriously cannot wait for passenger rail. The trip will substantially compete with I-35 travel times since road traffic can make it easily take up to 3+hours, but NLX could do the trip in just 2.5 hours. The local transit situation across Minnesota is looking great, even Rochester MN is building a BRT network with dedicated lanes and 5-10 minute frequencies!

Minnesota is doing great things!

@@goldenstarmusic1689 agree. The NLX is looking great. I think the drive time, under ideal conditions, they are the same. But I-35 is always under construction when I’ve headed up to the north shore. That’s great about Rochester. I really glad we are making strides. I’m in the west metro and didn’t know about the BRT lines. I’m hoping those and the light rail continue their expansion out my way

Of course it will never match the public transportation in glorious North Korea

you just gave a perfect example of Not Just Bikes' videos 💀 literally his whole channel is just bashing about americans and how horrible the continent is. He thinks that because he lives in the netherlands then he is superior to americans lol

@@gzassets that is a trap that I feel a lot of "urbanists" on RU-vid fall into. That is why I like RMTransit and City Beautiful videos they generally avoid the blind hate.

@@gzassets I don’t get that at all from the channel. Everywhere has its pros and cons, it’s just that the USA is one big con 🤷🏽‍♀️

I love taking the Trax to the airport in SLC! 5 bucks round trip beats paying for an Uber or parking anyday! Only downside is that o wish it ran later, but progress is progress! Now if only they’d implement more busses up the canyons instead of building a gondola

A Logan Utah mention! The thing that’s holding them back right now is they don’t have facilities to add more buses but they’re building a new one out by a certain roller coaster factory. I also think they need to start running on Sunday. There’s also some great density projects. New apartment in downtown, the owner of the small wants to replace it with apartments one large retail space (rumor is target) couple hundred apartments and like a 120room hotel with shops in it. The university also acquired new buses and UTA wants to study the possibility of a direct bus to Ogden. I also heard that the ski buses will return to operating normally.

Written & recorded before all of this drama but optimism is always what I strive for!

@@RMTransit wait really? That’s hilarious 😂 I can already see NJB blowing a gasket at this one, and to be honest, he needs to. His increasing negativity really turned me off his content and I’m more here for the good and the hope I see going forward. Thanks again, from a subscriber who remembers when you had

I'm kinda confused, what drama has NJB gotten into?

​@@LondonTransport466he made a tweet saying pretty much the US is a lost cause and you should leave it. That's the screenshot causing the drama, but he also gave more context which is important. His channel is and always has been for people that are able to leave. He recognized not everyone can but that's not the reason he makes his videos. I think some of his videos, especially the strong towns series, brought a lot of people into his channel and people expected every video to be like that, while some of the newer ones are much more "America bad, Netherlands good"

@@ryanbryla3087 I see, thanks for letting me know.

Many families in places like Japan and Western Europe have cars, but they are usually for non essential trips - which is certainly a good thing to aim for

It shouldn't be a either or. I seen some people quite literally don't want cars to exist which is going to alienate the majority of people and hurt the cause. Ofc the opposite is also true and some still think transit is for the poor. The goal is for a diversity of transportation methods so the most amount of people have the freedom to go wherever they want. Transit is ideal in urban settings while cars are better in rural farmlands or for work related reasons like construction and electrician. On the other transit should be priority because it serves the most people. Cars would still have a place as it is the only reasonable method of going to the wilderness for camping. By having multiple modes, those that are blind can still go to places without being driven. While someone who has difficulty walking can still drive point to point.

@@RMTransit YESS. exactly my pt. america (and canada) should be getting along w this. my home and class in vancouver is conveniently next to the canada line which im so lucky for. so i think i could get away in a car to a nature park or somewhere only a few people go to. (i was early af to this vid after completing my hw at 6am. and ty for replying)

Yep. I don't know why people leap to some insane CARS WILL BE BANNED panic. I have a car, and I like it (a fun little stick-shift hatchback), but crucially, I drive it when I want to, and basically no other time. If I drive twice in a week, that's a lot.

I feel like its more to sting the people into action if anything. Americans can't stand being worse than anyone else

@tortellinifettuccine I am lucky enough to have dual citizenship with the Czech Republic. As such, I’ve spent a great deal of time outside the US, something which I concede is not common for many Americans. In that time, I’ve had the joy of riding the Istanbul Metro, the London Underground, the Paris Metro, the Milan Metro, and the Vienna Metro. I’ve had the chance to take the TGV from Paris to Nice, Deutsche Bahn from Dresden to Berlin to Hamburg, and the Frecciarossa from Bari to Milan. Trust me, I am well aware of how great things could be and how bad they look by comparison. Nevertheless, when channels like NotJustBikes, CityNerd, or Alan Fischer cover the state of transit in this country, it is always presented with condescension and endless negativity. Car oriented cities like Houston, LA, and Phoenix serve as low hanging fruit to mock and ridicule (rightfully so), while our most transit-oriented cities like New York or my hometown of Chicago are praised only backhandedly. News of setbacks in transit development or budget cuts are met with snorts of ‘Ha! The rest of the world built transit just fine, and yet the richest country can’t!’. All this to say, yes American transit is subpar. Yes urban-sprawl and endless suburban development was a disastrous movement of urban planning. Yes we should do better since, as you point out, we are so wealthy and large. That’s why I see it is counterproductive, and frankly infuriating to sit around posting video after video on youtube titled something like ‘Why American Cities Suck’ or ‘American Cities are Broken’ or ‘Top 10 Most Sprawling Cities’. It doesn’t help anyone, and I guarantee you the ‘majority’ of Americans you point to as not caring about transit won’t take it as constructive criticism. They’ll take it as an insult, and roll up their eyes and car windows. That’s what I think is great about this video. It doesn’t pretend that America is doing just fine when it comes to sustainable development, but doesn’t waste time by snarkily admonishing the urban planners of the past. It points to avenues through which we can tangibly improve the situation through collective effort and advocacy, and presents a hopeful viewpoint that contrasts with the fashionable youtube argument of ‘haha america stupid, cars bad, europe great, japan heaven’. That's the only way we can make American transit not suck anymore: through the belief that we can.

​@@tortellinifettuccine A lot of words to say essentialy nothing.

@@tortellinifettuccinewhat major passenger rail service does Chile have after some quick research it looks like the national rail company doesn’t offer passenger rail service, many of the tracks are narrow gauge and the system doesn’t fully connect if I’m missing something could you direct me somewhere I can find this information

@@tortellinifettuccine I found some more information but I think it's a stretch to call the system better than the US passenger rail system. Most of the services could be compared to commuter rail as they appear to act in large part as a commuter rail with the fastest intercity route only being 160 kmh while a lot of Amtrak state-funded routes and bright line travel 200 kmh while in the NEC trains can go 240 kmh. America's passenger rail may be lacking but so is every country in the Americas.

Jeez put down your pitchforks guys

@@averagejoe6031 no mob justice here boss:) I'm voting with the subscribe button.

New Bedford/Fall River seems like a great Idea. I can leave Bristol, R.I. to catch a train in Fall river.

Bostons future is bright!

I think the system had to finally hit rock bottom for anyone to take its problems seriously. I really hope the new manager can fix the slow zones, as well as push forward the cross-state transit. That being said, don't hold out any hope for Manchester and Concord - New Hampshire's gonna New Hampshire.

I think for me Chicago is an example of needing to be bolder because they truly are large and already fairly transit oriented

@@RMTransit 100% agree. As a resident and frequent CTA user I think Chicago is still in a state where it has regressed (compared to its former capacity). I think the cta deserves more funding (and PRESSURE) to improve things at more than the snails pace it is currently running at... especially since like you said it has the benefit of preexisting decent ridership

NJB has the most obnoxious fans too

time traveler?

@@starilake2 Channel membership.

Indeed it does 😂

Chicago is a great city and it can and should have a great transit system

Hey, kid! I went to university in Chicago a mere 50 years ago... and there were NO trains to EITHER airport! Looks to me like Chicago is well along the make-it-useful track!

Chicago has every potential to have the best transit in the hemisphere. We just need the will. We should not be a car city.

Imagine Chicago's El running driverless and automatically like Vancouver's Skytrain. It can be done.

The downtown tunnel would be so dreamy 😍

I agree that a downtown tunnel would be wonderful (maybe stretching from the Convention Center or Moda Center all the way to Providence Park), giving Portland a real subway while significantly decreasing travel times on the red and blue lines from the west side (Goose Hollow, Beaverton, Hillsboro) to the east (to the Airport particularly, and to the east side and Gresham as well), but I doubt that downtown Portland really has the density or traffic needed for a subway. There wasn't exactly a bustling downtown office-type culture even before the pandemic, and now, well... But on the other hand, maybe a subway line would spur new development and make downtown a more bustling place? Extending Max to Vancouver seems a higher priority, but I doubt we'll even see that within a decade...

Not intentional 😅

Except often when reserving the outside two lanes on a 4, 6 or 8 lane road the carbrained people come out to the public meetings in force and often compel a change to operating in mixed traffic.

i feel like a route 29 line starting at white oak, going downtown and then to national harbor would yield a lot of riders

@@blushdog99 Mo Metro, mo betta. Especially more downtown DC stations. Our great-grandchildren will take the first train! ;-)

European cities are great, but they also aren’t perfect! There are certainly ways that North American cities are better!

@@RMTransitNow I‘m curious. Which ways are those?

Agreed completely, and I think doomerism completely misses that many European cities used to be way more car-dependent. Even the american cities that have transit had to fight car lobbies and highway construction. Doomerism seems fueled by this baseless notion that nothing can be improved, ever, in spite of the many many things that have been improved over the course of history.

and the european cities weren’t car dependent *that* long ago either, like 1-2 generations ago in some cases

A lot of the talking points the doomers use were invented by lobbyists to sway public opinion. “It works in Europe, but it could never work here because we’re special!”

California should have a HSR network between its biggest metro areas: LA/Long Beach/Anaheim, SF/Oakland, San Diego, Riverside/San Bernardino, Sacramento, San Jose, Fresno, Condord, Mission Viejo/Lake Forest/San Clemente, and Bakersfield.

Exactly. There is no hope so long as the GOP exists.

@@JasmineTeaEnjoyer You also have to contend with a more universal belief that cars = freedom

@@tonywalters7298 Yes. Most Americans, even democrats who want to increase government spending, don't know the first thing about what good public transit looks like. Neither does the leadership.

@@JasmineTeaEnjoyer plenty of dems are car loving suburbanites too. Probably not helped by the fact that the big three car manufacturers are union employers and unions tend to align with the Democratic Party

Let's be clear, it's conservatives and Republicans who are the problem.

Lots of progress happening in New England!

In an effort to stay positive, Green Line Extension and the MBTA Zoning Bill are also good things to happen in the Boston area recently. As well as a lot of long overdue routine maintenance that hopefully once complete drives more ridership to a currently crippled system.

The CEO of Texas Central, who really masterminded the whole thing, also resigned unexpectedly. That derailed things too.

@@garybacon659 I see what you did there. 🙂 In all seriousness, yeah that was definitely a major factor in the project delays.

I heard the lawsuits consumed so much of their money that they had to abandon the project. Maybe that's why the state is building the main HSRy in California and Brightline stuck to existing railroad and highway rights of way in Florida and will also in California.

Totally with you on the Silver Line, I live nearby the construction in Addison and I'm very excited for it. Plus since you posted this, Amtrak announced it's partnering with Texas Central! I'm still skeptical that it'll get off the ground but it's still a great sign that it won't just be allowed to die.

*ahem* NJB *ahem*

I think we need both realism about the serious problems we need to fix and optimism that they can be fixed!

@@RMTransit 100% true. We can still be critical but constructive. And showing the good aspects is just showing others that they can improve.