10-19-2025, 11:55 PM
(10-18-2025, 08:19 AM)nms Wrote:(10-17-2025, 01:47 PM)Acitta Wrote: An article in the Atlantic starts off with this paragraph, "Mass transit in the United States lacks mass appeal. In a 2024 study of data from nearly 800 cities, Asian urban residents used public transit for 43 percent of trips; 24 percent of Western Europeans in cities did the same. In American cities, the figure was less than 5 percent."
I couldn't tell from my albeit quick read of the study, but it would be interesting to see if there has been any shift in North American transit habits have changed in the last 20 years or so since there has been incremental investment in transit and active transportation improvements (at least in Waterloo Region's case). If 20 years ago, the number was 4% and today it's 5%, that's a big proportional increase. Over time, the incremental improvements will add up and suddenly driving isn't the default transportation mode.
The University of Waterloo Sustainable Transportation people feel like they haven't made headway on shifting modeshare over the past 20 years. They would really like to---but then the question is how empowered are they to make the actual changes that are needed.