There’s a reason for the lack of widespread public transportation in North America, and that’s scale. European countries are literally the size of US states. Texas (the second largest state) is almost twice the size of Germany, and nearly three times the size of the UK. In fact the only European country larger than Texas is Russia.
The more interesting number is population. While Germany is about half the size of Texas, they have almost three times the population. More people moving in the same direction, with less empty space between destinations makes mass transportation not only more practical, but a necessity.
Fewer people traveling to destinations more spread out is what lead to the automobile culture in the US. You could drive through multiple European countries in the time it would take to cross Texas.
Now for an interesting factoid. You could fit the entire world population (8bn) into Texas, and each person would still have ~86 square meters (925 sq ft) to themselves.
Canada? They can do better with mass transportation, simply because more than 85%of their population lives within 100 miles of the US border. Despite being the second largest country in the world, they have population densities similar to European countries.
By this argument, both the east and west coasts of the US should have great public transportation. It also ignores the fact that many american cities HAD great pubic transportation in the form of trams, yet removed them for roads and highways. That decision had nothing to do with density or distance (at the time, when american cities were still walkable and the car had yet to dominate the transportation landscape), and everything to do with policy.
There’s a reason for the lack of widespread public transportation in North America, and that’s scale. European countries are literally the size of US states. Texas (the second largest state) is almost twice the size of Germany, and nearly three times the size of the UK. In fact the only European country larger than Texas is Russia.
The more interesting number is population. While Germany is about half the size of Texas, they have almost three times the population. More people moving in the same direction, with less empty space between destinations makes mass transportation not only more practical, but a necessity.
Fewer people traveling to destinations more spread out is what lead to the automobile culture in the US. You could drive through multiple European countries in the time it would take to cross Texas.
Now for an interesting factoid. You could fit the entire world population (8bn) into Texas, and each person would still have ~86 square meters (925 sq ft) to themselves.
Canada? They can do better with mass transportation, simply because more than 85%of their population lives within 100 miles of the US border. Despite being the second largest country in the world, they have population densities similar to European countries.
By this argument, both the east and west coasts of the US should have great public transportation. It also ignores the fact that many american cities HAD great pubic transportation in the form of trams, yet removed them for roads and highways. That decision had nothing to do with density or distance (at the time, when american cities were still walkable and the car had yet to dominate the transportation landscape), and everything to do with policy.