Pretty good video, but the offered solution is just Run More Buses (aka driving air around the suburbs).
A typical 7.3 mi commute at 12 MPH urban local bus speed = 36 min, minimum, plus waits, transfers, walk to/from. But driving oneself will still be faster & easier for most! https://twitter.com/Indy_Austin/status/1319257464580247553
Better service (coverage/frequency) alone can't make transit more convenient than driving.
TNCs drove SO MUCH air around; offered door-to-door service & arrived in minutes--yet only got <15% of trips, lost $billions, made traffic/pollution worse. https://sf.curbed.com/2019/8/21/20826611/tnc-uber-lyft-san-francisco-traffic-studies-fehr-peers
Cities w good transit:
- put people closer to transit
- make trips shorter, with closer destinations
- make driving/parking slower & less convenient
Better transit NEEDS better cities/suburbs. But the video downplays TOD's role. At 8:16:
"most Americans live in places that were built for cars. if we want to change that in the long term, we'll have to build communities that look differently. Right now, Americans drive because it's the most convenient option...
"...But that also means you don't actually need to transform the whole country to get people to ride public transit. You just need to make it convenient enough that they want to."
Making transit (& walking! & biking!) convenient enough for people to WANT to will REQUIRE transforming where many Americans live.
That's OK! It's happening anyways! With good planning, that transformation can make things better! But we have to ALLOW it!
(this thread also subtweets the NUMTOT 🌹s who claim to love transit, but 💩 all over any attempt to make biking better, driving slightly pricier or less stupendously convenient, or cities ever so slightly better/different)
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