Re:Ask HN: Good Hacker Cities
by aaronblohowiak on Sunday January 25, 2009 @05:52AM
(#449016)
Fun historical factoid: LA used to have a world-class train system! Good luck with its public transport now, though... "I'd have to take 5 busses and it would take 3 hours? To get groceries?"
Re:Ask HN: Good Hacker Cities
by gravitycop on Sunday January 25, 2009 @06:01AM
(#449024)
LA used to have a world-class train system
It was just a movie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric#The_.22General...
Other factors that may have contributed to the decline of electric traction in the United States include [...] low revenues.
Re:Ask HN: Good Hacker Cities
by steveplace on Sunday January 25, 2009 @09:48AM
(#449137)
Don't forget:
The plot of the 1988 movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit is loosely modeled on the conspiracy to dismantle the streetcar lines in Los Angeles.
If you want to live in Oakland and don't like a 45-minute car commute, you don't take a job in Santa Clara or Sunnyvale.
Oakland to Pleasanton should be reasonable by BART.
The Bay Area can't compare to the USA's best train-centric cities (NY, Chicago, Boston) but beats most other domestic places for mass transit. Still, it's spotty, with some great corridors and some journeys that are really hard.