mithrandir15
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User ID: 1777
mithrandir15
10d ago
I think you're just describing a coordination problem? If Eugene becomes super-YIMBY, it may accumulate poverty from Springfield. But Springfield will lose poverty to Eugene, so Springfield benefits in proportion to however much Eugene suffers. And both cities benefit at least a little from the effects of having enough housing for everyone, wherever they want to have housing.
mithrandir15
10d ago
I wouldn't put too much stock into environmental impact statements. Their methodology for predicting traffic is often suspect; for instance, the draft EIS for the I-5 project between Portland and Vancouver, WA expects the same number of cars per direction on the I-5 bridge whether or not the bridge is expanded.
You could not delete buses from every city in the USA without noticing a difference in congestion. See this study about a 2003 LA transit strike, which saw average highway delays increase by 47%. Then consider that LA has a much lower transit mode share than some other US cities.
You're right that transit isn't a good tool to reduce congestion. (At least, I think you're right; I'd have to do more research to be sure.) That's because road space is almost always provided free of charge. It's rational for drivers to fill up the free road space until traffic delays make it too inconvenient, and if transit siphons off some of those drivers, other drivers will fill in the gap.
But the purpose of transit isn't just to increase accessibility for non-drivers. It can also convert drivers into non-drivers, and it can enable drivers to forgo driving when parking is too expensive or traffic is too bad. (E.g. going downtown, going to sports games and concerts, or going to the airport.)
mithrandir15
10d ago
I used to suffer from carbrain, and now I suffer from CDS. It's tough. I can't wait for the walk sign at an intersection without noting that the wait was caused by the cars. Whenever I see free street parking or a speeding driver, I can't help but try to quantify the untaxed negative externality. Everywhere I go in my American city, I see the ghost of the city that once was, before the cars took over the streets, and the ghost of the urbanist utopia that the city could one day become. The only thing that helps me is driving in a rural area, which feels natural, peaceful, and truly necessary.
mithrandir15
10d ago
Pedestrian Observations is great! I don't know any better source for highlighting transit economics and (especially) instances of transit agency incompetence.
Taxing consumption should lower road usage per worker, because it makes workers more likely to bike, carpool, or take transit.
My heart is bullish on DOGE but my mind is bearish. Much of government inefficiency is not that too many people have been hired, like at X, but that its own regulatory requirements are too dense and too strict. Time and effort is sucked up by compliance, procurement, and legal. Firing people might not help, it might simply lower the resources the government has to comply with its own regulations, slowing everything down. If DOGE isn't given the power to reform procurement and cut red tape, I'm afraid it will crash and burn.
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