this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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It's much easier to build rail in places that weren't designed around cars. Even in rural China people live in condos and apartments with parks between. This helps with NIMBYism and combined with the already large amount of green space left in Chinese cities such systems can be built with the only real concern being the engineering itself. But China is also in a good position for that, as their workforce is incredibly well educated with more engineering talent than they can even fully employ domestically. All that PLUS the political will of a single party state meant it was a very different situation than California.
And that's before you even consider ridership, where even the best possible SF to LA route would still pretty much require you to get a car or taxi once you get to LA (because LA was basically torn down and redesigned for cars).
In LA it is supposed to end at Union Station, which amazing access to commuter rail, a metro system, which admitly is small, but still can take you to a lot of places, bus rapid transit and it is right next to downtown. Obviously it is not comparable to NY, London or Paris, which are of a similar size, but you should be able to go to a lot of intressting places, without needing a car once you arrive in LA.
Another good practice china makes is building transit before/at the same time as expanding urban areas, making sure that even new developments are transit oriented
LA is slowly working on good rail transit. You can already get to Union station (where CA HSR will stop) from just about everywhere served by the rail and busway network
I finally found one in the wild!
If you’re gonna call someone a name, go ahead and say it
Urbanist?
One what?
A delusional fetishist. I wonder how much time they've spent in China.
Are you saying China didn't build that rail?
I don't see where I typed that.
So, what's the delusion? Are you saying California has built comparable levels of HSR?
Thinking "even in rural China people live in condos and apartments with parks between" is hilarious. Tons of rural Chinese still use outhouses and only have communal water sources, no indoor plumbing. They live in simple wooden shacks and cook over an open fire.
I have absolutely no idea where they 're getting the ideas they have but they're laughable.
edit: though to be clear, their high-speed rail system between cities is great and an example the US should look.
How much time have you spent in China?
About six months, prior to covid. Enough to know the commenter is full of shit.
China is a wonderful country but basically the entire first paragraph is wrong.
He's not entirely accurate with his definition of "apartment and condo," but if you've actually lived in a rural village you'd know that they have remarkable density compared to even Western suburban development.