Impact and cost of transportation

>>1079088
Trains and buses aren't entirely cheap to operate, especially in areas with lower density. But good public transit is fundamental for everyone to have an equal opportunity, and as such it can be extremely beneficial to society in ways that are difficult to account for.

But still, I'd say that on the whole public transit is most likely cheaper per capita than cars. Even "low density" cities like LA have more than enough density to theoretically sustain good levels of ridership for public transit.

One of the issues with public transit is the insistence of building underground, which brutally increases costs of construction and maintenance, and in 9 out of 10 cases it's only done to benefit cars and/or to create more construction work and likely bribes to local politicians. The standard for rapid transit shouldn't be subways, which are the pinnacle of public transit, but at-grade LRT with traffic light priority. Such LRT can easily get 20-25 km/h average speed (while a subway gets about 30-35), and has more than enough capacity for most transit corridors that don't run through high-density areas.

>>1079090
> The standard for rapid transit shouldn't be subways, which are the pinnacle of public transit, but at-grade LRT with traffic light priority.
> rapid transit
Please understand this word and RoW.
>>1079088
People underestimate buses, streetcars/trams and trains, while overestimating LRTs and metros.

>>1079090
>The standard for rapid transit shouldn't be subways, which are the pinnacle of public transit, but at-grade LRT with traffic light priority
That really depends on the geography and context, I think. The problem is that almost invariably in the western world, cars get the priority above public transport, forcing it to be either elevated, underground, or shit. Grade-separated inner-city speedways are fairly common as well, to be honest, but most car-accessible streets are at-grade, of course.
LRT can't always provide the necessary transport capacities, especially when were talking about a society with less cars in use than today.
Rapid transit can't be at-grade in urban environments because it is very hard to cross, similar to a motorway, which is the car-based equivalent to rapid transit. As long as a city or borough is well-off with light rail or a tram, just build that. But you can't place high-speed rail on ground level because you'll screw with pedestrians and cyclists even harder than with all the main streets crossing city centers today.
>>1079107
>People underestimate buses, streetcars/trams and trains, while overestimating LRTs and metros.
Please explain.