It’s always surprising when you see our city’s name in HN...
Looks like the TLDR is that LA only has subways in downtown (I can’t understand the reason... why would people use subways then?), they should fix them. Looks like it strongly correlates with the car-centric culture of the US...
This also inspires the pandemic of NIMBYism that keeps zoning so ostentatious. Residents of most cities don't want to live in a proper 21st century city - they want it all, a personal separated residence, the ability to go anywhere they want whenever they want via personal car, but also immediate and local access to arts, entertainment, and workplaces while not actually living near any of those because they don't want the people around them.
Its generally just not going to go away until the current populations of these cities age out of them. Its a cultural identifier hallmark now that you can't try to displace with facts and data.
Yeah, hence the mention of the car centric culture of US. I personally can’t understand why one would like to use a car if the subway is faster, more predictive, cheaper, and less tiring, but looks like a cultural difference.
> Residents of most cities don't want to live in a proper 21st century city - they want it all, a personal separated residence, the ability to go anywhere they want whenever they want via personal car, but also immediate and local access to arts, entertainment, and workplaces while not actually living near any of those because they don't want the people around them.
Well, isn’t this the problem that subways are designed to mitigate? Like... if you want to go to a art center, go to the subway station, ride the subways to the desired station, and see the arts!
That's a big problem in the bay area as well, there is no reliable and fast public transport if you want to commute.
This is not really true. The rail system extends out to other areas but those areas are typically served by a single line.
While the rail system benefits many people, I also wonder whether it has led to more people moving here, increased rents, and ultimately more traffic as people realize they need the expense of a car to fully get around.
This argument applies to anything that improves a city.
Well, IMO that’s an indicator of a misdesigned rail system. In a properly designed rail system, one should prefer using the subways instead of cars, and use them most of the time. They should not use the car most of the time, for example commute.
Additionally, traffic today is very different than what it was in 1995 and I would shocked if you disagreed. We also have another million people.