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Why Japan has such good railways

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Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#381

Post by doikor »

acdha wrote: post #329
kulahan wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"free" just means "publicly subsidized" in these cases. Not that this is a bad thing, but that's really all it is. See also: literally anything any nation pays for using tax money.

Sometimes it’s privately subsidized, too, such as when you go out to eat and your meal costs more because the restaurant provides free parking. People who don’t drive often pay higher prices subsidizing the people who do, which is something we should talk about more directly.

A lot of the time the businesses don’t have an option to not have parking as it is enforced by zoning laws/regulations.

Though they can make that mandatory parking paid but often the social norm is for it to be free (at least for the first hour or two)

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#382

Post by nottorp »

infecto wrote: post #140
nottorp wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I remember, Japanese zoning allows small shops (there's a size limit) in any residential zone. That means no car trips when you run out of bread or milk. Smartest property of that zoning system IMO.

I also wonder how much the pressure filled culture of not standing out has something to do with this. My impression is Japanese are under a lot more pressure to not abuse the permissiveness of the zoning laws.

If a law allows a store up to a certain size, and someone builds a store of that size, has the law been abused?

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#383

Post by prmoustache »

al_borland wrote: post #340
ericmay wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main low-hanging fruit is just removing surface parking lots in American downtowns and stopping the development and expansion of highways through the same. If you did nothing else that would have a significant positive impact. For almost all communities those surface parking lots are economic extracts from the community. They're woefully underpriced for tax purposes too.

The removed parking needs to be replaced by transit options people actually want to use. I live just outside a fairly large city. Getting downtown sucks. Driving is the only real option, but parking is annoying and expensive. Even if it was free, it would still be annoying. I almost exclusively take an Uber because of it. Those can add up and be a mixed bag as well. There is bus service, but it’s infrequent and quadr…

If you remove parking spaces it solves itself because traffic is reduced and transit options become more efficient AND more financially sound.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#384

Post by pjc50 »

kulahan wrote: post #312
yulker wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that is critical is that the country hasn't turned home ownership into an ever growing financial asset that is meant to carry the majority of one's wealth into perpetuity

What major investments do they make instead? Or do they just not have much of a financial ladder?

Postal savings at 2% interest. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2005/08/how-did-japan-s-...

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#385

Post by wkrsz »

dbdr wrote: post #377
skybrian wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would make a difference in dense cities like San Francisco where many people park on the street. A lot of people would have to give up their cars. Meanwhile, in rural areas and many suburbs, it would be pointless paperwork, because everyone has a big enough driveway for their cars and nobody parks on the street at night. So it seems like it would be difficult to get enough people in favor to do it state-wide in Ca…

Your city/rural distinction is insightful. I think it can be taken into account relatively easily. Name explicitly the cities/locations were the requirement would apply. Possibly based on some objective criteria like population density.

Can such policies be implemented individually by cities?

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#386

Post by dboreham »

dnnddidiej wrote: post #341
nunez wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my absolute biggest pet peeve about living in "modern" suburbs and a large contributing factor behind why i wanted to (and eventually did) leave them. imagine having the only well-maintained sidewalk for a good ways out be blocked by cars whose owners have 2+ car garages!

Blocking the sidewalk should be fineable?

Such rules are often not enforced.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#387

Post by thaumasiotes »

numpad0 wrote: post #247
thaumasiotes wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Where I live in Los Angeles, a very large number of people park their cars primarily or exclusively on the street. > Such a change would have a significant impact. What would that impact be? Do you see, or experience, a lot of contention for nighttime parking? There's plenty of contention for street parking in nonresidential areas. But a nighttime parking certificate doesn't do anything about that. Nighttime parkin…

It's not like you have to get waivers to park your cars in front of your house in Japan. Your car MUST have a designated lot, with proofs(more or less a set of simple declaration forms than anything detailed and concrete), to be registered under your name. Otherwise it cannot be registered. A full waiver for parking violations technically exist, but they are reserved for official and/or actually special vehicles only…

But permission to park in front of your own house is trivial to obtain in the US (as the thread has noted, generally not even necessary to obtain, but in some cases it is necessary to get permission) and would satisfy the requirement.

You can imagine a regime where parking in front of your own house is banned as a policy choice, but that's completely different from a regime where you need to document that you have permission to park somewhere at night. The nighttime parking requirement doesn't make it any harder to own a car, because you're "gatekeeping" ownership with a gate that can't bar anyone.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#389

Post by tnk0 »

I live in Tokyo. The rail network here is so dense that even locals like me still get confused figuring out transfers sometimes.

One thing I don't see discussed enough: the cost of car ownership in Tokyo is a huge factor. Monthly parking alone can cost as much as renting a studio apartment. In central Tokyo, parking for a single day can run close to $200.

When your country is this small and land is this expensive, trains just make more sense for most people. I think the rail network developed as much out of necessity as anything else.

Re: Why Japan has such good railways

#390

Post by zhdc1 »

dividefuel wrote: post #357
zhdc1 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

East coast cities were built before modern building codes. Something that, for some reason, people in the states don't want to accept is that - when given the choice - the vast majority of people prefer living in dense urban environments.

Do you have a source for this? What threshold is needed for it to be 'dense'?

My source -> https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/003/033/089/164...
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