Why Europe Is Insanely Well Designed

Why Europe Is Insanely Well Designed

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[OBFYT]

I want to give some clarification because a lot of people misunderstood what I said in the video and I missaid some things as well.


2. I do switch between talking about the European Union and Europe a few times throughout the video which might have been a bit confusing as well.

3. When I say that the "EU's" road network is not nearly as congested as the US' it's true, and I think people got confused because they thought I meant Europe, which would have contradicted my statement because European nations are in the list I show. I do know that I said Europe instead of the EU once when showing the list however so that's a mistake, sorry for that.

4. The fuel prices I showed were from 2021 because I felt they were more accurate long-term since prices have gone insane recently.

[klyntarsunite]

For those who didn’t know: The first map isn’t actually all of Europes train tracks, just the most major ones. There are 99% more

[AhimtarHoN]

The rail network at the start is not actually the rail network, it shows most major cities and to which major cities they are connected to. The actual railways are waaaay more complex

[iNdA]

I am living in Hannover, Germany. I once read that our public transport company guaranteed that in the city nobody has to walk more than 250m to reach a bus or tram. You can reach every part of the city with those in a short and efficient timespan. Most of the time we do not appreciate this system but if we visit other countries we realise what we have at home and well the system works.

[aidanrupert]

The thought of not having a car growing up in Kansas is almost insane to me. Now that I live in Prague, I personally think that great public transportation is far FAR better in almost every way possible. Hands down. So cheap, so efficient, I don't have to worry about leaving my car and getting an uber when I get wasted on a night out, and honestly, I think it contributes a lot to my mental health, you feel far more connected with people. You don't feel isolated! If I were a city planner back in the states I would put a MASSIVE focus on public transportation in cities, it'd be a no brainer.

[joey]

Just a small correction. At 5:58 you claim that EU citizens are able to move freely to other schengen EU countries and stay up to 3 months. THIS IS FALSE. You are allowed to stay INDEFINITELY in other schengen countries as a EU citizen. You can buy/rent a home and work in the other nation without even notifying anyone and it's your RIGHT as a EU citizen to live in another schengen EU nation indefinitely.

[Thesupermachine]

I don’t think the maps used (at least of europe), both for rail and highway systems, reflect the real life situation very well. In both cases you show the official international routes in both cases. On top of that there are thousands of extra lines in every country, this is the same with highway networks. The rail network in europe is much more comprehensive in comparison to this map..

[EdVonPelt]

The map for European railways and road networks are missing a lot of detail. The Autobahn network alone can equal any US area for density. And the French, Swiss or Italians aren't that far behind either.

[leonistifter]

Im from switzerland. Here most people go to school with a bike, which saves money and is good for the environnement. The people that live further away take the bus or train. What always amazes me is that theres always a bus-/ trainstation no matter where u live. Its so practical especially for students.

[KWSigsgaard]

The incredible thing is that Europe has all of these projects going on in a net of different countries, cultures and plans.

[puddin]

I was born and raised in the UK but moved to The USA at 22. I had never felt more isolated! In England I could easily look up bus timetables, many of which would take me exactly where I needed to go, use the bike lanes or cycle tracks to go to the town centre or take a train for the day to the next city over and it would be quick and cheap.

Here in the USA I felt I HAD to have a car and learn to drive, its near impossible to function in society without one and that’s terribly sad.

EDIT: for context, my town in the UK has less than 40, 000 people and is about an hour and a half away by car from any large city, and we STILL had good public transport for nearby towns, villages and cities. Low population density isn't an excuse if it makes sense for people to use it!

[maxymvandenbogaert]

I am from Belgium and i live in a minor city, the proof that our transit system works is that i can buy a train ticket right to Amsterdam for 10 euros and be in amsterdam 3 hours later. Also your map of highways in europe is too simplified.

[kaliyuga]

It always amazed me how the train was invented in the UK and had an important role in US history, yet here in Spain it never became a thing in its early days because Spain is the second most montainous country in Europe apart from Switzerland, but nowadays it has as many highspeed railways as France

[gerbrandlub]

Dutchie here, manager project control for mostly infrastructure. When you ask what can still be improved, realistically it'll mostly be incremental additions with the current technological limitations (which is usual in a historic context I know). For instance, we're redesigning a street in a major city centre at the moment. We want to untangle cyclists and pedestrians by offering the cyclists an alternative. Problem is, the best alternative is also used by lorries to supply the city-centre shops making it a bit less safe. We'll widen the street of course, remove parking spaces (always a huge protest) but the best alternative would be to have specific supply-raillines underground in urban centres. But those are mega projects and not feasible at the moment.
When it comes to international traintravel, we're getting there. Last march I traveled to Austria from the Netherlands by train and it was just as fast as with a regular car (and cheaper). But one hiccup and you're screwed with transfers. More reliable trains and schedules would see more people taking PT as a viable alternative.

[diegorovaglia]

The problem with Europe's public transportation systems (Italian here) is that, even if they are not always perfect (maintenance and punctuality), they are just the better alternative, compared to the car, in cities.... but that ONLY applies to medium-large cities. The moment you strive just a little further away from the downtown areas, you NEED to have a car. There are the occasional buses here and there and the local train lines are good enough, but they can't physically cover all of the areas that need to be served.

So, if you live in a city and do most of your business there (work, family and friends), you don't need a car at all, but if you live in the countryside or even in smaller towns... good luck surviving without a car.

[martintirpak]

I am from Slovakia and the tram shown at 1:45 is actually the one I use on my daily commute to work!
Btw, the railway line through the middle of Slovakia does not really exist as depicted. You can travel this route without changing trains, but not through mountainous Slovakia as shown. These trains go through Czech republic instead.

[crankybastid]

It's well designed because its smaller than the US and was developed almost a thousand years ago for walking and horse traffic. Shops are closer to home, schools, hospitals, etc. The US is designed for automobile traffic.

[tokarukora]

The thing is: The train lines in Europa were less DESIGNED than developed in very small iterations. The various countries made their train tracks where knew it would be intelligent, and they were connected then. The towns were first, the train came later, when people already knew where they would be interesting to use.

[jackhaugh]

I’m an American that lived in Europe; Germany specifically, for 7 years in the 90s. Seeing the overall public transportation system there compared to the US really made me envious.
I think the US is still far behind Europe in every aspect of public transport, most glaringly the rail system.

[marcegger]

honestly, my biggest issue about Europe and specifically France (I'm french) and Italy (studied there), is that although large towns and cities are incredibly well connected it becomes an insane hassle to go to most smaller villages and towns as they might fall off the grid. For that reason and pretty much that reason only I would consider buying a car whilst living in Europe, and that pretty much points out the achilles heel of this system. Unless covering essentially 100% of the towns and villages, there will always be at least one person incentivized to buying a car. It shouldn't be a hassle to have to live in the countryside, and it definitely shouldn't be a hassle to visit your family living in the countryside.