Comment 72522

By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted December 23, 2011 at 15:58:08

How does LRT slow down city life when in fact it is designed to speed it up?

Because it's about the pace of life, rather than individual trips.

Cars can make a trip very quickly, but a much greater cost than bikes or trains, both in terms of space and time. Because cities with high car ownership need a lot more space for roads and parking, the distances travelled generally increase. Cars enable people to live, work and shop much further than would be otherwise possible, so this encourages long distances. At the same time, because cars cost so much more money, this requires a fair bit of extra time at work, cutting into the time you have available to make those trips. Combine these two factors and you may be moving faster (less time x more distance), but you're probably not getting anywhere any quicker.

LRT needs far less space (one lane, no parking) and much less money. It encourages higher-density land use and therefore allows us to achieve the same goals with shorter trips. At the same time, it's less of a financial burden than a car, so people have more time. In any case, one train moving at 50kph is still better than a few dozen cars rolling down the same street at the same speed.

As far as the paradox of intensification goes, it really highlights how the problems of car culture are not confined to the suburbs...

"Today, the notion of progress in a single line without goal or limit seems perhaps the most parochial notion of a very parochial century." — Lewis Mumford

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