Yeah, there's a cool project [1] that maps out all the historic streetcar routes in SF. There used to be a LOT of them, they all got ripped out to make more room for cars. There were rail tracks on the bay bridge! Those got ripped out in 1956 apparently. Everything was converted to buses so yeah, there's still public transit but I definitely feel like something valuable was lost there. I'd also argue that much of the bay area was built for street cars (they existed after all!) and we could always put them back if there was a compelling cost/benefit to doing so.
Re:The self-driving car is a red herring
by clairity on Wednesday October 28, 2020 @12:58PM
(#24921154)
LA has good public transportation but car-induced sprawl makes it less useful than it could be, and car culture here makes public transportation less appealing and less used than it could be. but if you live & work near one of the train lines, it’s awesome.
I agree that most of the US has been designed explicitly around the car, but there is no need to be fatalistic about it. Most US cities (including LA) had good public transportation before WW2, and they could have it again if they wanted.