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> People can rant and rail about America's car-centric culture, or they could just accept that the culture is what it is and work to mitigate the negative aspects of it.

Honest question: What's the difference? Mitigating the negative aspects involves making others aware of the negative aspects, but many people see that as ranting and railing. What does a productive conversation look like?

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jimbob45 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

People acknowledge that America is bigger than their country with challenging geographical features. They also stop comparing their best country (UK) with America’s worst state or, even worse, the entire US landmass.

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bananalychee 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

China has a high-speed rail network whose size spans about half of the United States'. Some old US cities had better transit systems in the 1950s than they do now. No one expects every US city to be on the level of Tokyo, but there is no excuse for being so far behind.

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markus_zhang 3 days ago | parent [-]

China has a different distribution of population I think. But yeah I agree the US can use some better railways. Then again I shiver at the cost.

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nebula8804 3 days ago | parent [-]

Forget about the cost. Do you take public rail? I used to and even if the trains get 1000% better the people are still the same: talking loud, no respect for others, just all in their own bubbles.

This is the polar opposite of Europe. I've taken even the run down ugly german trains that they still run on irregular routes and even though the trains are antiquated, they make sense and get the job done. People are respectful even if the train is packed. I wouldn't want to go back to trains in America other than for sparse occasional trips.

I often look at maps like this and think maybe that would be amazing: https://i.imgur.com/srMhE1X.png

But then i'd probably just take an airplane for most trips because 1-2 hrs of leg cramps with a typically quiet passenger crew is better then a misbehaved train carriage.

Fixing the trains is not fixing the society. The trains are probably broken because the society is broken.

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kjkjadksj 3 days ago | parent [-]

You can’t get away from it in this country short of moving into the woods. One of the neighbors has a motorcycle. Literally like clockwork when he comes home from work it shakes my apartment and sets off the same three aftermarket alarms from cars parked on the street. Every time. Last apartment neighbor a floor below me was into house music. Here even the army flies ospreys and chinooks overhead that shake everything for a good 30 seconds until they pass; I never knew a helicopter could be so loud. You can’t win. You have to learn to just roll over and take it.

	▲	nebula8804 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		People try. They move to neighborhoods with higher wealth. People hate to think about it but that is a indicator that reduces these kinds of nonsense things. They use cars instead of public transit and prefer politicians that vote for more of that. They are not even going out in public spaces as much anymore. I do concede that these are not perfect solutions and bring their own issues, so I guess you can't win. I am not sure if it was always like this though.

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tmnvdb 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What are these "challenging geographic features"?

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nlarew 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Total strawman argument.

The size of the country has almost no bearing on the way we develop our towns and cities, subsidize car production, assume/require car ownership in public policy, etc.

It's also quite the stretch to claim the UK as the best country in the EU and even more to claim that it doesn't also have a car culture. And it's not just "America's worst state", the vast majority of US town and cities are car dependent.

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ryandrake 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Any time someone uses the excuse that “the size of the USA” prevents this or that, then ask why New Jersey can’t do this or that. Some states are the same size and density of the average European country.

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nebula8804 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

NJ has an extensive train network. Its crap for the following reasons(only referring to main interstate rail, their city light rails are different):

1. The stock is divided into two sets: single decker trains that are falling apart but are still better than new stock because they were designed during an era where there was actual consideration given to comfort. They are old and run down but more comfy.

The new double decker trains are a design by committee nightmare: they have uncomfortable molded chairs made mostly out of plastic, super cold, noisier due to the terrible shifting whine of the electric motors, and now poorly maintained (god help you if you have to use their rest rooms).

2. They are constantly stopping due to priority given to amtrak and commercial rail. In the best case scenario the train takes ~45 mins to get from central NJ to NYC with stops. For about ~20 miles of track distance, that averages out to ~29-31mph. If Amtrack stops you that time is extended.

3. Very slow speeds due to old track technology.

4. Rising ticket costs for the same lousy service. (~$21 round trip from central NJ to NYC) I guess being able to have a digital ticket helps? (It probably helps them more than it helps you)

5. Pure depression because outside the main routes going into NYC and Hoboken, the dregs of society are the only ones riding these trains. This really grates on you if you take the train for years like I did.

6. Recently, they couldn't even provide working windows so people can see the 'beauty' of NJ. ( To be fair after all the TikTok meme videos called them out on this they finally got embarrassed enough to start replacing them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-a3r6i4hiQ )

It all priorities. People in the US just dont want mass rail over other priorities. The people who do are internet keyboard warriors.

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tmnvdb 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It's obviously nonsense. Nobody is walking from Paris to Berlin. But you can walk in Paris and Berlin.

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mlinhares 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Don't forget one of the most famous and visited destinations in the country is a walkable neighborhood served by great public transportation and uses a rat as a mascot.

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nebula8804 3 days ago | parent [-]

You looked at that transportation recently? It is collapsing due to legacy, graft, and cost overruns. I don't presume you are European but I HATE when they use this system as an example or public transit that works in America. Its a dump. The worst trains in France and Germany run miles around it.

	▲	mlinhares 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'm talking about Disney World, not NYC :P

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pyfon 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They can catch a train from Paris to Berlin (and every disco they'll be in)

	▲	tmnvdb 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Most people would not. Paris - Berlin is dominated by flying.

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PaulDavisThe1st 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Well, Werner Herzog, possibly.

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pinkmuffinere 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Your criticisms are absolutely right. I upvoted you, but just fyi I think your response may come off as too blunt/rude, and get “downvotes”. It doesn’t really matter here, but maybe helpful to know in general, if you didn’t already.

	▲	nlarew 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Fair enough! You're right it's a bit blunt. I didn't take very much time to edit it. Hopefully folks are able to look past any gruffness and find the substance in it.

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rsynnott 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

... I'm not sure many would agree that the UK, of all places, has good public transport. _London_ does, but it more or less ends there.

(Possibly you mean by some other metric, but I'm struggling to think of _any_ metric by which the UK could be said to be the best country in Europe. Sitcoms, possibly. It does a good sitcom. Even outside London!)

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kortilla 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You’re assuming all of the negative aspects require giving up cars to solve

	▲	itishappy 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I don't think we need to give up cars entirely, but I also don't think we'll be able to address the negative aspects without some amount of change. An example: I live roughly 200m from the Costco in the center of town, but there's a major 4 lane road between us. Walking would be so convenient, but it's so much safer to drive. A footbridge would address this without impacting drivers. I have no intentions of giving up my car, but this particular activity would be so much nicer without it!
	▲	xanderstrike 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The simple geometry problem of how much space cars take up is arguably the worst now (given tailpipe emissions are on their way out), and there is no solution to that outside of fewer and much smaller cars.