Why are US Cities all Car Based?

Episode 1 of my new series call the Armchair Urbanist. If you have any ideas for an episode put them in the comments below!

[MephistoDerPudel]

Wow, that shot of Detroit was mindboggling. A tram adds so much to a city, even without it's function as transport.

[kennylauderdale_en]

Because blimps aren't a viable means of transport yet.

[amarsven]

In most countries and in the US especially city planners wanted to fight congested streets by building wider streets. This leads however to even more congested streets. In Europe many countries faced this problem at its peak by taking away space for cars. Amsterdam is a famous example, but also all European cities (also those neutral in WW2) subsidize their public transportation. In America building free roads has somehow a less socialistic appeal than subsidizing public transport.

[MassiveChetBakerFan]

I think it’s unfair to blame the train companies. They were competing against massive government subsidies for highways and mortgages for houses in sprawling suburbs. Many of the dense neighborhoods they had rail and trolley lines through were carved up by interstates. The free market railroads didn’t stand a chance against this huge government intervention.

[Bobrogers]

The oil and automotive industries had a huge influence on Congress, and the Federal government poured billions into highways. They invested very little into railroads for upgrades and modernization. At the same time, I understand that General Motors bought up many of the urban streetcar lines and substituted buses.

[ShouldOfStudiedForTheTest]

Interesting video to watch as a German. I kid you not though, our country is still car maniac as fuck. I live close to Bochum with half the population and my city was definitively build for cars first. Can we get an F in chat fot it's tram lost in the 70's? But the crazy thing is that even this city has 30 buslines and access to S-Bahn, regional trains and HSR to Hamburg, Berlin and even Vienna.
So whenever I feel bad about it, I just watch this video, lol. Great memes, too.

[no-one]

You can imagine my surprise when I moved out of a city of light rails, bike lanes, and many buses to a city with no light rails or bike lanes and very few buses that hardly cover half of the city. Hell, there are literally no sidewalks.

[Basta]

This video misses the biggest reason - because it is illegal or prohibitively expensive to build mix use walkable neighborhoods.
1. Zoning - by segregating commercial and residential areas with large blocks of land, most people must live far away from places of business. They practically need a car to go to work or shop.
2. Minimum parking requirements - this act as a iron flattening out cities. Buildings cannot be built without a minimum amount of parking that is based on the area of the indoor space. This makes buildings shorter and smaller because they will eventually reach a cap on how much parking they have. It also means buildings are farther apart so walking is made a hassle.
3. Set backs, floor area ratios, minimum lot sizes, house alteration restrictions, etc etc. These laws make it difficult to build more units that can house more people. So even in areas that are walkable, they can't accomodate more people, forcing them to be further away from their desired location.
4. Massive subsidies for car infrastructure. The Federal Government practically subsidizes highway construction in the States, without this, they wouldn't be able to afford such large highway systems, and have money to support suburban infrastructure as well. Without this funding, states and cities would need to be more prudent with their infrastructure spending - which favors density (economies of scale) rather than low density car dependent suburbia.

[HannahHäggAutisticTransWoman]

Stockholm, Sweden has 2 391 990 people living in it's metropolitan area and has 800-900 buss lines destinct 7 metro line, 8 commuter lines, 5 tram lines and even 4 commuter ferry lines. Which makes it extremely easy to live without a car even in many low residential suburbs there they have at least a bus line going towards or through them

[karacassano]

Enjoyed the light comedic approach and can't wait for more episodes!

[franand]

Cities like Chicago and NYC can be easily fixed but Los Angeles and Houston are forever doomed

[Steam_Attack]

You're an adult when you realize that Roger Rabbit was a movie about general motors killing the light rail transit

[trismegistus]

Most train roads in Europe actually already existed before WW2. Yes, they invested in high speed rail after the war, but many Europeans use these only rarely.

[torquetrain]

I hate car centric idiocy in America. I am sick to death of road rage, taxes, maintenance cost, car payments, gas, congestion. Go to Hell auto industry. Bring on high speed rail, commuter trains, trams, buses, subways, bicycles. Cars and trucks are like roaches. Metal coffin death traps. Hopefully the car and highway system will go away forever into the scrap heap. I will fight against them in whatever way I can.

[kaocakeman]

>See video titled "Why are US Cities Based?"
>Wait what?
>Clicked!
>"Car Based"
>Oh.

[fruitjuice]

I love this! I've been watching the youtuber Not Just Bikes, and he's got a much more cynical viewpoint about NA urban planning to say the least. Great to see someone talk about it from a more positive and hopeful perspective!

[Cptn.Viridian]

3:30 I dont think you give the old rail companies enough credit. Yes mismanagement and bankruptcy are certainly the main cause, but consider that in their darkest hour they had to compete with the newly built/being built interstate system, a giant network of high-speed, high quality (then atleast) and most importantly, FREE highways that connected a car owner to every possible destination, and perhaps more importantly, everywhere in between.

[snuffsonic]

BoHum, Germany 😆 nice video :)
btw bochum still is one of the cities with the highest rates of car ownership in all of germany :( 508 cars for 1000 inhabitants!

[kostka]

The US is obviously in an awful place for public transit, but ironically the amount of freight transported by rail is actually lower in Europe than in the US...

[TheNamesWolf]

It's crazy, I'm a Wichitan that's lately been on an urban planning kick and just found your channel on this video. I really hope to see our city fix it's transit woes you highlighted.