| > Retrofitting a transport system to replace the need for cars is virtually impossible. You aren't going to manage to fit a nice public transit system (of any kind we know today) on a sprawled city like Houston, but you can do it gradually while changing the density at the same time. First and most important: fix zoning so that businesses (i.e. work) is where people live. You don't want a city center and some industrial areas, and separate areas with residential buildings. Next: increase car- and fuel taxes. Add tolls, bus lanes. All of this will slowly make public transport more attractive and long commutes less attractive. This will mean people prefer working closer to their homes (so businesses might setup where people live instead of where other businesses are). Housing prices will go up only in places with good public transoport etc. Next: stop having school districts determine where people go to school. That system only makes people buy expensive houses next to other expensive houses - because the rich parents have long made sure there is a good school there. Now both parents have to drive a long way to work instead - just so they could get a decent school. And so on and so forth. There are dozens of reasons cities are badly planned and sprawled, and a few US cities suffer from ALL the diseases and have been for decades (school districts, poor zoning, too cheap gas, ...). |
https://urbanedge.blogs.rice.edu/2015/09/08/forget-what-youv...