I personally think that this is a result of American Transit planning. I think the biggest reason for the ridership crisis has been that Mass transit is viewed not as the way you get from A to B, but as getting other people off the roads to make it faster for me to drive from A to B. The big thing I present is my evidence was the I-95 collapse up in Tocany. Once that major highway was severed, SEPTA magically got more funding and Crews to start running more Trenton line trains to bring people into Center City. People were taking the Broad Street Line to get to Phillies games in the stadiums. Even though "Transit Crime"^tm was higher in 2023, SEPTA saw a boost in ridership until they got I-95 put back together and the funding dried up. In the same span of time, Highway accidents and road rage incidents saw a dramatic spike in Q3 2021 and only really saw a drop off in the beginning of 2024. This is reflected in insurance premium spikes, although there are a couple other factors I'm leaving out of that. Road traffic accident's and fatalities are left off as "the cost of doing business" but transit crime is emphasized as local governance policy failures even though road design and enforcement are state and local jurisdictions. Car accidents can be just as life changing injuries as getting shot or stabbed but the blame goes from the individual should have driven better to SEPTA failed to protect the rider.
I like the authors premise but leaving out how Americans treat driving leaves out a very imporant pact of the picture.
I like the authors premise but leaving out how Americans treat driving leaves out a very imporant pact of the picture.
