Personally I love the idea of public transit but the reality of the times was that buses were more cost effective for most cities. Rail required an economy of scale & needed to be kept separate from car traffic to stay on time.
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*you know, where GM conspired to put streetcars out of business by in favor of city buses as a way to promote car ownership)
Once met a guy pitching the idea of reviving rail in Rochester NY by creating a rail line from U of Rochester to RIT. That was his big idea: connect the 2 universities.
I asked him 'why not advocate for express bus lines?'
Him: Becase 'white people won't ride buses.'
(This was nonsense in a Rochester context & as a person who'd relied on buses for daily transport, I told him so. He ignored me.)
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