How do you plan on dealing with all the induced demand that building more roads brings? Would the roads only be for buses?
Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
11–20 of 79 posts
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#12>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! I don't want to commute out to the country.
[deleted]
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#13Longer travel is inherently less efficient. It's much better to build denser close to existing transportation hubs.
Proposal: Pass a law that cities can't prevent permitting of mixed developments up to 8 stories within 1500 feet of existing trail r stations or freeway exits, and see where that takes us!
(Also, doubling down on BART, Caltrain, SMART and the boats would be quite helpful.)
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#14>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…
Okay. And without boiling the ocean, what have you got that's better?
Short term - more buses, alternate day driving, increase incentives for no car ownership (tax rebate), increase penalties for car ownership (increase parking fees/fines, increase number of no-parking tow-away zones).
Medium term - Build bike lanes, convert streets to promenades, build light rail, build traffic calmers (narrow streets, speed bumps, lane bollards)
Long term - Marketing programs to encourage different business lifestyles (city vs. country, remote vs in-person). Tax incentives for moving out of the city.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#15> If we make it easier to quickly travel longer distances in/out of work hubs, the intense demand for housing can be diffused to communities that can handle it. Wow, just wow. Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Cupertino et al can all "handle it" they just don't want to. There is plenty of space for transit oriented housing and office space along the cal-train corridor. If Cupertino can "handle" an office space for…
I think it's a stretch to say that the peninsula will remain majority single family home cities. Everywhere I look all I see are new apartment complexes being built.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#16The 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. Caltrain/BART is a joke in comparison, and $68 billion would go a long way towards making that not the case.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#17Ummmmm, where is the data to support either argument? How will and how much buses need to be added to support just the current population in the current cities? How does that follow up on expanding population? How does that match with new construction and available land close by. What is the distance and driving time for buses between work hubs and housing. While housing can be built relatively fast, work hubs take a lot more time for various reasons.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#18>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 personal relocation to make feasible.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Okay. And without boiling the ocean, what have you got that's better?
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.
Re: Petition for Smarter Infrastructure
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Okay. And without boiling the ocean, what have you got that's better?
Short term - more buses, alternate day driving, increase incentives for no car ownership (tax rebate), increase penalties for car ownership (increase parking fees/fines, increase number of no-parking tow-away zones). Medium term - Build bike lanes, convert streets to promenades, build light rail, build traffic calmers (narrow streets, speed bumps, lane bollards) Long term - Marketing programs to encourage different b…
Giving away money is not generally an effective solution. Where is that money going to come from?