The solution is to spread out more?
There is lots of developable land here on the peninsula. We just aren't developing it.
Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
21–30 of 79 posts
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#22>We should double our annual infrastructure budget. We can fund this by stopping the high-speed rail, and spend the $68+ billion we are planning to spend on that on better local rapid transit systems, improved bus lines, and new roads instead. This will allow people to live in more affordable housing and have a better quality of life. Bad idea. More roads does not mean less traffic, More roads = more cars. And more i…
> Stop the madness! The answer is not to transit at all. Live near your job, walk or bike to work. Build more housing dammit! Why the fuck does a software company need to be in the middle of big city? All you need is electricity and internet, move out to the country! The average time of employment in the tech sector for people under 40 in tech is under 4 years. Your plan is untenable because it involves frequent pers…
Not to mention people whose spouses/partners work at a different company!
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#23The deeply ironic thing about California HSR is that it's basically going to be most useful for business travelers. Who the hell else needs to go from SF to LA on any regular basis? If you spent that money on regional rail instead, you might actually help out working class people. In cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, tons of middle class people ride the train to/from what used to be streetcar suburbs.…
The stupid thing is that those business travelers won't use the rail line, they'll happily chug along in their self-driving Teslas and ultra comfy Audis/Mercedes/BMWs.
Toronto just dealt with this. We built a rail line that goes from our international airport right into the heart of the downtown. The plan was that business travelers could get off the plane, get on the train, and go right into the city without a car. Nobody uses it. They forgot about the comfort of the taxi and limo - you don't have to carry your luggage and you don't have to share the car and listen to screaming children.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#24On the surface, this sounds like a great idea. The problem is that, once you look at the details, you realize there are none.
How is this going to work? Where does that $68bn get re-allocated? Who will benefit from this? What is the economic advantage of investing in transit infrastructure in dollars and cents?
I've seen a few of these proposals that sell hopes and dreams with no discussion of how it's going to work. Until I see that, I can't support this.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#25How do you plan on dealing with all the induced demand that building more roads brings? Would the roads only be for buses?
If you were going to go the suggested route of building more roads, the only sane thing to do would be to make them bus only lanes and then to invest into that category heavily in regards to efficiency / automation / capacity. I can't see any other scenario that makes sense in terms of building more roads, unless this is premised on autonomous driving 20 years out improving the traffic patterns & congestion.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
denser, 10 - 20 story tall transit oriented development in caltrain and bart station parking lots.
Can you clarify what you mean by "transit oriented development"? As a general rule of thumb, 10-20 story tall buildings are an eye sore. I don't think it makes sense to make things denser if it's going to be so ugly that no one wants to live there.
You get a heck of a view from above the 10th floor. I'd live there. Opposing dense development near transit seems close to the ultimate NIMBYism.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#27The reason that there is a housing crisis in the Bay Area is that there is a lack of housing in the Bay Area. We don't need to make it so you don't need to live in SF to work in SF, we need to make it so that there are enough homes for the people that want to live there. And this means one thing, ZONING. The reason that more housing isn't built in the Bay is that the people living there don't want developers to build…
I agree that we need to build in the city as well, but many major cities have good transportation inside and outside of the city too.
Currently it's almost an hour to get to downtown from Ocean Beach to Financial district with a bus, and its only 7 miles away. That is 7mph, almost a walking speed.
For example, back in Helsinki (where I'm from) you could easily get to the downtown anywhere in the 12mile radius in 10-20mins with a bus, light rail or train. I know the numbers are similar in many European cities.
Generally in Europe public transport is usually the easier and faster option than driving or at least the same time. If driving in a city is multitudes faster then you're not doing to public or other transportation systems very well.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#28The deeply ironic thing about California HSR is that it's basically going to be most useful for business travelers. Who the hell else needs to go from SF to LA on any regular basis? If you spent that money on regional rail instead, you might actually help out working class people. In cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, tons of middle class people ride the train to/from what used to be streetcar suburbs.…
California HSR goes to San Francisco, Millbrae, San Jose, Gilroy, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Hanford, Bakersfield, Palmdale, Burbank, Los Angeles, and Anaheim. It provides frequent single-seat rides between every origin-destination pair of these cities. Many of these routes don't currently have any similar commercial air service (or the air service that does exist has very high fares due to low competition and scale), so HSR is providing new connectivity that didn't exist before.
The San Jose to Bakersfield segment is scheduled to begin operating in 2021. It will provide 1 hour travel time between Fresno and San Jose[1]. High speed rail isn't replacing regional rail -- it's providing it over a much longer distance than would otherwise be possible.
[1] http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/23/will-san-jose-to-fresn...
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#29I'd be happy just to see traffic lights that actually factor traffic congestion. One of my peeves is when a traffic light makes me and a whole line of cars waste brakes to stop then waste gas to sit at a red light just to let one car go when the efficient option would have been to let the line of cars travelling 50mph go first, THEN let the loner who's already stopped go afterwards. It's a problem I've wanted to solve for a loooong time. Imagine the savings in time, gasoline, and environment if every intersection actively tried to maximize efficiency.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#30Dashed-off in a hurry without thinking it through, just like most of the supposed high achievers and visionaries I know.
If we make it easier to quickly travel longer distances in/out of work hubs...
...the demand for quickly traveling longer distances in/out of work hubs, increases accordingly. Which leads to the same congestion problems spreading outward. You don't want to plan your land use based on what types and kinds of transportation are possible. But if you open up a transportation corridor hoping for the best, that is exactly what you're doing. Based on the fact that there is now transportation available, you get mile after mile of hastily-constructed bland, dystopian nowhere suburbs that breed ennui, conformism and fascism. Meanwhile all those people shoulder extra "friction" in their lives in the form of traveling around pointlessly.
Instead you should plan land use deliberatively. Build the destination. And then connect destinations. The answer is the exact opposite - have a strong urban growth boundary that keeps growth compact, and remove barriers to high-density housing construction in the city. Because this leads to less demand for travel, everyone saves on transportation costs - not only the costs of infrastructure but of using it. And they get to live in a dense, interesting city where their genitals can be located near the genitals of many others of their preferred gender for mating. Which is great for software companies that hire young people.