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There’s a common perception in the U.S. that taking public transit is dangerous. It's actually safer than driving.
(www.scientificamerican.com)
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
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The NYC subway system is impressive, in a way. Imagine a system that has been brutally underfunded for an entire century and basically frozen in time with barely any extension since then. Yet they still manage to keep it running and (mostly) functioning. It doesn't surprise me that much of it relies on 100 year old technology. The money isn't even enough for maintaining everything, let alone, massive improvements. And yes, it is an embarrassment. There are other subway networks in the world that have a similarly long history and don't feel even remotely as neglected.
Comparing China might be a bit unfair with their wages and ... efficient way of handling property, environmental and other laws but there is no need to. Just have a look at Spain for example. They started 34 years ago with their first line. It is also interesting because they built the HSR in a gauge that is incompatible with the rest of the national rail network.
You hit the nail on the head. Things get done in China. In my birth country, Netherlands, it is a drama with environmental concerns, paperwork, licenses, animals etc.
For example Netherlands introduced toll for trucks to move them to electric. But to install a charger at the trucking company, it will take upto 7 years!! That is totally insane. And since there is a change of government every 4 years or 2 years currently, everything changes again.
At least all the investment in infrastructure in China benefits its citizens. Unlike investing more in the military industrial complex.
Don't you think having clean, reliable, innovative transport should be prioritized? How can you be proud of a 100 year old system that is crumbling and no notion of any investment. Maybe now NYC has a 'socialist' mayor, things will improve. But to catch up will take a long time.
That's the other thing, that I bring up with a lot of these wants (not saying that in a hateful way), is that relative to now everything seems like a good idea but in the US too, we have a new administration every so often, for us it's 4 to 8 years (depending on how elections play out), so there's no way for anything to really get done on an effective scale with a lot of projects that can have numerous positive societal impacts.
Relative to now all these ideas seem amazing but what happens when the next president doesn't like them and goes, "funding cut!"?