this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
1619 points (97.9% liked)
Public Transport
333 readers
65 users here now
Everything about public transportation!
founded 2 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Developed high speed rail since 2008 in China vs the US:
The silver lining of autocracy.
Why would a democratically elected leader plan for the long term if their sucessors, possibly from an opposition party, can claim credit for it.
In a dictatorship, they can plan for the long term, since they know they will be in power.
Also, the hyper-individualism in western countries doesn't make "working together" as a country easier. Just look at the anti-maskers and anti-vax people lol
And also, the big population in China would never allow for a "car culture" in the firsr place, since there just isn't room for that many cars, public transit is a must for a densely populated country.
I’ve been to China plenty of times, I promise the car culture is alive and well.
Eh, parking costs is a huge problem.
Its probably the reason why my parents never got a car when they were in China.
Its the same in NYC tbh. I mean, brooklyn, maybe, but if you wanna go to Chinatown in Manhattan, yea... good luck finding parking. Its not even that "Public Transit is good" (NYC subway is filthy compared to China's subway, and also there's no safety barriers in NYC, feels sketchy to wait for a train/subway because you get the feeling like some racist is about to push you 😕), since missing a scheduled subway/bus is gonna make you like 30 minutes late. Its just that having a car is so inconvienient in a crowded city, so much so that even the terrible public transit system is better than having a car.
Now in philly, there is street parking, and malls with parking lots... so... yea we got 2 cars in the family... 🤷♂️