Syt's Pictorial Collection of Stuff and Things (image heavy)

[Josquius]

This is getting really exciting and into trains now. Oh how I've dreamed for a UK that follows the Japanese/Swiss model of a nationwide metro.
But... Maybe we should split this off into a seperate urbanism thread and give syt his picture thread back?

[Sheilbh]

Unfortunately a lot of the railway lines are slow and overcrowded; not a winning combination. Preston to Liverpool takes an hour (or more) and they are only 27 miles apart.......that is disgraceful.

Yep - the railways in lots of the north have been woefully under-invested in. They literally use old TfL buses as carriages on some lines

And it's not just that North-West conurbation - with a decent line that was electrified (not even high-speed) and linked to the Leeds/West Yorkshire and Sheffield/South Yorkshire conurbations and you have the potential for a really major metro area.

Instead we have the M62

But... Maybe we should split this off into a seperate urbanism thread and give syt his picture thread back?

Yes - sorry Syt I feel bad for the hijack so tried to get it back on tract with some old school Viennese pictures.

Then got dragged back in 

[HVC]

Note the derisive nature of the nicknames. It is curious that old women can buy their groceries on foot while young healthy men need to use a car 

Because old people can't drive without crashing so can't drive

You'll be old one day too young feller-me-lad shakes stick 

I don't drive now, so i'm ahead of the curve!

[Valmy]

Note the derisive nature of the nicknames. It is curious that old women can buy their groceries on foot while young healthy men need to use a car 

No old women I know buy groceries on foot.

Same - and if necessary take a shopping bag with me.

Ok let me know when you start buying groceries for six people that way.

And hey all of this may work for you guys but there is no way that Texans are going to give up their cars and trucks unless they are made to. I just see electrification as the only way forward. I mean you might as well suggest that we change our official language to Swedish for how realistic it is.

Now a lot of compact urbanization did happen, because it is currently cool and hip, but it is very much an affectation for the wealthy. Few regular families can afford to live in the high rises in downtown Dallas or Austin.

[Valmy]

And to go back to Tyr's point - before the transition to buses (and their inevitable decline) - Preston used to have  what looks to me like a decent tram system:

We had trams in Austin as well but that was also back when the city had about 50,000 people instead of 980,000. The same system would never work today, plus it ran right down the middle of the street. There is no space to put it now.

[Razgovory]

I go shopping with a rucksack, it works much better than carrier bags and I don't get why more don't do this.

This is a decent article on the whole thing-
http://nautil.us/issue/7/waste/did-cars-save-our-cities-from-horses

What else you got?

eh?

You link was insufficient. It boiled down to "There was other junk in the streets besides horse shit".  It also undercut your argument that it was only a New York City problem since it contained statements about problems with horse shit in Rochester.  Engineers at the time were saying that horses were severe problem, I see no reason to doubt them.

We are also ignoring the other problems with horses.  Stables, food and water.

[The Brain]

Horses are pretty good eating.

[merithyn]

I use rucksack and supplementary bag and, because we are a family of four, shop at least 5 times a week. It is time-consuming, perhaps 6 hours per week, but otoh there is about 20 miles per week of brisk walking which has health benefits.

I think this also shows the difference in how Americans view things from Europeans. When I shopped for my family of six, I went to the grocery store once every two weeks for the bulk of my groceries, spending upwards of $500 at a time. I would occasionally go for the odd bit of bob in between, but most of the shopping was done twice a month.

That's impossible to do without a car.

[Admiral Yi]

I have a hard time taking the word rucksack seriously.

[Razgovory]

I have a hard time taking the word rucksack seriously.

What if Meri called it her "fucksack"?

[Valmy]

It was Richard who had the fucksack.

[merithyn]

I have a hard time taking the word rucksack seriously.

What if Meri called it her "fucksack"?

Why's it gotta be me?

Besides I don't use a rucksack. I use a fanny pack.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I thought it was marsupials who had fanny packs?

I'm not expecting Americans to change their ways btw. My principal concern is to reduce car traffic in NW England to make the place nicer; that and a high-speed rail link to Liverpool so I can get my city-vibe more conveniently 

[Josquius]

Why Liverpool?
Manchester seems the best bet. Apparently they're looking into trying to get a proper TFL style thing going on and better links to towns around the city too.
With HS2, shoukd it ever finally happen, it bodes well for freeing up a lot of rails

You link was insufficient. It boiled down to "There was other junk in the streets besides horse shit".  It also undercut your argument that it was only a New York City problem since it contained statements about problems with horse shit in Rochester.  Engineers at the time were saying that horses were severe problem, I see no reason to doubt them.

We are also ignoring the other problems with horses.  Stables, food and water.

Insufficient for what?
What argument was 'undercut'?
I really have no idea what you're upset about here.

Also needs noting that engineers weren't saying horses were a problem and that even if they had this would be missing the point as horses weren't most peoples primary means of transport.

[Syt]

Why Liverpool?

RH likes to retrace the steps from when he was the original 5th Beatle.