(08-20-2023, 01:01 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:(08-18-2023, 09:46 PM)bravado Wrote: The Strong Towns approach says that you should stop building infrastructure before the destination exists. You need people to start using and paying for the service, otherwise you're just making new financial boondoggles. It should not need to be said that transit should go where people are, not where they will/might be.
Wait a minute. Isn’t the problem that we always build motor vehicle infrastructure as if people are going to use it, but we only build transit infrastructure as a last resort? Seems to me we need to build our new subdivisions to be transit-oriented.
Also it would be weird to build transit only when the destination exists unless the same applies to road construction.
Absolutely - but the destination that you’re building both roads and transit to should be appropriately dense to pay for the infrastructure. No more building 4 lane stroads (or trains) to an empty field and waiting 20 years. There’s no plan in place now to upzone my neighbourhood so the train should not go there until those plans are (at least) started. Financially smart areas should be rewarded and financially insolvent places ‘punished’. We keep planning cities by spending it all up front and then waiting for everything to fill in and wonder why we’re broke and inflexible. Natural cities develop in increments over time, not in huge expensive chunks..
Transit and roads can both be boondoggles… it’s just that we’re more used to roads unfairly getting a pass.
local cambridge weirdo