Response to the question of trains in the United States

it’s because of zoning … kinda. Postwar mentality and a lot of racism made it so that Americans had an ideal of a house with a big green grass lawns with separation between all of the houses. They made zoning laws to prevent density. White Americans, who were the people who actually got housing loans, Were afraid of downtown because they thought they might have to interact with Black people. So basically, a shit ton of laws were made in the United States requiring houses to be single-family and separated. This really sucks for community, hence Houston haha. So the only place where there is high enough population density is the East Coast by New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, … And I guess Boston, but fuck Boston. So we don’t have trains in the United States because everyone has a car because we had zoning laws that made it so that you have to have a car to be able to travel in between your home and a grocery store, school, or job.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40128084

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