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The German metro area "Rheinland" has a population of 8.7 million people across 12 thousand square kilometers. ~700/sqkm vs the 240/sqkm population density of A

The German metro area "Rheinland" has a population of 8.7 million people across 12 thousand square kilometers. ~700/sqkm vs the 240/sqkm population density of Atlanta metro. Train and metro travel in this metrk area is extremely convenient and fast. It's not that Atlanta (or anywhere else in the United States for that matter) couldn't do it because of vastness, there's just no political and societal will behind this idea. In a society that glamorizes everyone driving the biggest trucks and carrying the largest rifles, of course convenient train systems are "not feasible".

emmelaich 11mo ago
And it loses money. And doesn't it have time reliability issues?
- irowe 11mo ago
  The exact same comment could be made of Atlanta's roads. How did we get here from the post about uv?
  - echelon 11mo ago
    This did veer very far from uv! I'm so stoked for what uv is doing for the Python ecosystem. requirements.txt and the madness around it has been a hell for over a decade. It's been so pointlessly hard to replicate what the authors of Python projects want the state of your software to be in. uv has been much needed. It's solving the single biggest pain point for Python.
- jodrellblank 11mo ago
  Is your car a profitable investment? Public transport is to move people around, not to make money.
- qwertytyyuu 11mo ago
  roads also lose a lot of money, and that's fine. Public infrasturcture doesn't need to make money
schrodinger 11mo ago
I'm not following your logic. Having nearly triple the population density in Rheinland makes trains way _more_ feasible, not _less_. That means on average you have a train 1/3 the distance away from you. That's a big difference. I live in NYC which has 29,000/sqkm in Manhattan and 11,300/sqkm overall. Public transportation is great here and you don't need a car. but at 240/sqkm, that's really not much public trans per person!
- schrodinger 11mo ago
  Rule 35 of the internet? Every discussion will eventually devolve into the United State's horrible usage (or lack thereof) of public transportation.
schrodinger 11mo ago
Having replied in good faith already, I also want to call out that your jab about trucks and rifles adds nothing to the conversation and is merely culture-war fuel. > Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity. > Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes.
- h33t-l4x0r 11mo ago
  It seems like a fair point to me. You can't bring your rifle on the train but you can bring it in your truck. Whether or not that shapes Atlanteans choice of transport I can't say though.
  - schrodinger 11mo ago
    Fair point perhaps, but was clearly intended as sarcasm: > a society that glamorizes everyone driving the biggest trucks and carrying the largest rifles
thaumasiotes 11mo ago
> The German metro area "Rheinland" has a population of 8.7 million people across 12 thousand square kilometers. ~700/sqkm vs the 240/sqkm population density of Atlanta metro. Train and metro travel in this metrk area is extremely convenient and fast. It's not that Atlanta (or anywhere else in the United States for that matter) couldn't do it because of vastness Did you forget to support yourself? You're saying Rheinland has three times the population density of Atlanta, with convenient passenger rail, and that demonstrates that low population density isn't an obstacle to passenger rail in Atlanta?

emmelaich 11mo ago

And it loses money. And doesn't it have time reliability issues?

irowe 11mo ago
The exact same comment could be made of Atlanta's roads. How did we get here from the post about uv?
- echelon 11mo ago
  This did veer very far from uv! I'm so stoked for what uv is doing for the Python ecosystem. requirements.txt and the madness around it has been a hell for over a decade. It's been so pointlessly hard to replicate what the authors of Python projects want the state of your software to be in. uv has been much needed. It's solving the single biggest pain point for Python.
jodrellblank 11mo ago
Is your car a profitable investment? Public transport is to move people around, not to make money.
qwertytyyuu 11mo ago
roads also lose a lot of money, and that's fine. Public infrasturcture doesn't need to make money

schrodinger 11mo ago

I'm not following your logic. Having nearly triple the population density in Rheinland makes trains way _more_ feasible, not _less_. That means on average you have a train 1/3 the distance away from you. That's a big difference. I live in NYC which has 29,000/sqkm in Manhattan and 11,300/sqkm overall. Public transportation is great here and you don't need a car. but at 240/sqkm, that's really not much public trans per person!

schrodinger 11mo ago
Rule 35 of the internet? Every discussion will eventually devolve into the United State's horrible usage (or lack thereof) of public transportation.

schrodinger 11mo ago

Having replied in good faith already, I also want to call out that your jab about trucks and rifles adds nothing to the conversation and is merely culture-war fuel. > Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity. > Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes.

h33t-l4x0r 11mo ago
It seems like a fair point to me. You can't bring your rifle on the train but you can bring it in your truck. Whether or not that shapes Atlanteans choice of transport I can't say though.
- schrodinger 11mo ago
  Fair point perhaps, but was clearly intended as sarcasm: > a society that glamorizes everyone driving the biggest trucks and carrying the largest rifles

thaumasiotes 11mo ago

> The German metro area "Rheinland" has a population of 8.7 million people across 12 thousand square kilometers. ~700/sqkm vs the 240/sqkm population density of Atlanta metro. Train and metro travel in this metrk area is extremely convenient and fast. It's not that Atlanta (or anywhere else in the United States for that matter) couldn't do it because of vastness Did you forget to support yourself? You're saying Rheinland has three times the population density of Atlanta, with convenient passenger rail, and that demonstrates that low population density isn't an obstacle to passenger rail in Atlanta?