Misbah Aziz

6th Period
ISM

Unique in the world’: why does America have such terrible public transit?

The Guardian November 14, 2023

Summary:

Author Jake Berman recently published a book about the public transportation
systems in North America. His book is filled with maps and details about specific cities
and the stories about how transportation developed in them. The focus of the book is
the successes and failures of the transit system. He believes that part of the problem is
the way that our suburbs are laid out and the way that land around transit systems is
used. One example of this that he provided is that the cities of Barcelona and Dallas
have the same amount of rail, however in Dallas it cannot be used for day-to-day life
because of the amenities surrounding it. Houston is said to be using its rail transport
system much more efficiently than other cities. His book also includes historical contact
of the transportation problems North America faces today. Two examples of cities with
poorly built systems include Los Angeles and Rochester. Berman cites bureaucracy as
one of the primary reasons for the failures of transit.

Project Topic Connection:

My project also includes an element of studying and designing the transportation

system of an area. With the information from this article, I can learn about the failures of
modern public transportation in the context of North America. The specific details the
article provided about the success of various cities would also prove to be beneficial in
providing design inspiration. There was even a specific mention of the rails in Houston
and how they have proved to be more efficient than other cities. By doing more in-depth
research into the examples that the author provides, I can gain a better understanding
of how transportation will look in the product master plan that I design. The article is
primarily focused on a book that someone published, my researching more about that
book and its author I can also learn a lot more about how I should integrate
transportation into my product. The examples, details, and ideas in the article will
influence the way I develop my design going forward. I also now have an understanding
of how public transportation looks in various cities across the continent.

Personal Response:

After reading the article, I was very interested in learning more about public
transportation in Houston and how it has evolved over the years. Many people such as
myself who live in the suburbs have little to no exposure to public transport in Houston. I
thought that it was very interesting that the author of the article and the books that they
discussed thought that Houston had a relatively more efficient system. I felt excited that
Houston might be making efforts towards further developing its transit systems. I had a
few questions about why some cities have more developed transportation systems than
others. I would like to learn more about how history and culture influenced that style of
 Misbah Aziz
6th Period
ISM

development. I would also like to learn more about why transportation looks so different
in different parts of the world. I was also wondering whether any cities have recently
made updates to their transportation that had significant benefits.

Link:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/14/book-lost-subways-north-america-jake-berman

Citation:

Esposito, V. (2023, November 14). “unique in the World”: Why does America have such
terrible public transit? The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/14/book-lost-subways-north-
america-jake-berman