Re:Why did we wait so long for the bicycle? (2019)
by eru on Thursday March 21, 2024 @08:48PM
(#39786262)
> The rest of the world wasn't connected enough that great roads made much a difference to enough people that they were worth building.
When bicycles were young, the world was connected enough for this. But train tracks were a better technology (with better cost/benefit) at the time.
> In the US some roads were built in the early days, but canals and later the railroad had enough advantages over road transport (both can haul far more bulk) that for most roads were not worth building and the dirt track was fine.
Yes, exactly!
> [...] but farmers (the majority of the population) didn't travel often enough that the cost (labor) to build a road was worth it - they just stayed on the farm when it rained.
And they also only just needed to get to the next train station. The didn't need a county [sic!] spanning network of roads, just many individual star topologies.
When bicycles were young, the world was connected enough for this. But train tracks were a better technology (with better cost/benefit) at the time.
> In the US some roads were built in the early days, but canals and later the railroad had enough advantages over road transport (both can haul far more bulk) that for most roads were not worth building and the dirt track was fine.
Yes, exactly!
> [...] but farmers (the majority of the population) didn't travel often enough that the cost (labor) to build a road was worth it - they just stayed on the farm when it rained.
And they also only just needed to get to the next train station. The didn't need a county [sic!] spanning network of roads, just many individual star topologies.