I'm neither outraged nor interested in posting on JWZ's journal, but public transit and a house with a yard on four sides aren't incompatible: or rather, you don't need to live in a densely urban apartment to take advantage of public transit.
First, the park-and-ride plan can work quite well for suburbanites given the presence of adequate light rail: you take the train to avoid the insanity of city driving, and then you have your car to get you to the local supermarket to pick up stuff for dinner on the way home.
Second, given the right geographical factors, subway lines or streetcards can be extended out of an urban core and into first and even second-tier suburbs. This isn't really effective for a 5br/4b 2400 sq ft faux-Colonial set on 3 acres, but if your American Dream is a Leave-it-to-Beaver place with a picket fence and a dog and a garage, then yeah, with appropriate urban planning you can have that and your public transit too.
The key is *good* transit. Which takes committment. Which means money. Which means demand. Which means... and here it gets circular. If fuel prices go up another few dollars... there's another potential source of demand, albeit one that I'm not eager for. I've just already spent enough of my life in gridlock to know that my own personal American Dream doesn't involve daily driving. :P
Example of good public transit working well with suburbanization of residential areas: Chicago. No, most of those cars on the Dan Ryan at rush hour are NOT locals. Have you ever seen what parking in that city costs? The majority of Chicago commuters take either the El (CTA Elevated Railway) or the various Metra (State of Illinois-owned heavy commuter railroads) lines into town, using park-and-ride stations in the various suburbs.
The reason it works is because of how frequent the stations on each line are, and how many different lines into the city there are. (To see that, Metra's route map is at http://metrarail.com/System_map/index.html , and the El system map is at http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/maps/fwebmaptrain.gif . While they don't share any stations, the Loop is only a half-mile walk from any Metra line.)
Interesting note: When the Dan Ryan and Kennedy expressways (I-90/94 through downtown, south and northwest of the city center, respectively) were built, it was known from the start that they wouldn't be adequate for traffic along those routes. As a result, they were designed so that the El's Red Line *is* the median strip on the Dan Ryan, while the Blue Line runs along the south side of the Kennedy.
First, the park-and-ride plan can work quite well for suburbanites given the presence of adequate light rail: you take the train to avoid the insanity of city driving, and then you have your car to get you to the local supermarket to pick up stuff for dinner on the way home.
Second, given the right geographical factors, subway lines or streetcards can be extended out of an urban core and into first and even second-tier suburbs. This isn't really effective for a 5br/4b 2400 sq ft faux-Colonial set on 3 acres, but if your American Dream is a Leave-it-to-Beaver place with a picket fence and a dog and a garage, then yeah, with appropriate urban planning you can have that and your public transit too.
The key is *good* transit. Which takes committment. Which means money. Which means demand. Which means... and here it gets circular. If fuel prices go up another few dollars... there's another potential source of demand, albeit one that I'm not eager for. I've just already spent enough of my life in gridlock to know that my own personal American Dream doesn't involve daily driving. :P
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The reason it works is because of how frequent the stations on each line are, and how many different lines into the city there are. (To see that, Metra's route map is at http://metrarail.com/System_map/index.html , and the El system map is at http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/maps/fwebmaptrain.gif . While they don't share any stations, the Loop is only a half-mile walk from any Metra line.)
Interesting note: When the Dan Ryan and Kennedy expressways (I-90/94 through downtown, south and northwest of the city center, respectively) were built, it was known from the start that they wouldn't be adequate for traffic along those routes. As a result, they were designed so that the El's Red Line *is* the median strip on the Dan Ryan, while the Blue Line runs along the south side of the Kennedy.
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