c4bl3fl4m3:

grandpaahab:

severalowls:

beyonslayed:

babyhair:

babyhair:

I’m v passionate about public transportation and honestly idk why any major us city doesn’t have a light rail system

*azealia banks megaphone gif*
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IS A HUGE EQUALIZER THAT GIVES DISENFRANCHISED PEOPLE ACESS TO GREATER RESOURCES CREATES LASTING STABLE JOBS AND PRODUCES CAPITAL FOR METRO GOVERNMENTS TO INVEST IN PROJECTS THAT IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE

because *republican voice* that’s socialism

Because they did have light rail systems, extensive ones. And then it started hurting car sales and the automotive companies got mad:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

So, with pressure from those guys it was effectively replaced by the Interstate system even within cities, and from then on urban planning was done specifically with every family owning a car in mind, which resulted in the vast urban sprawl of the suburbs built from the 1940s onwards, and why it’s now impossible to get anywhere without a car in most of the US. Which is basically unheard of elsewhere in the world unless you’re in the middle of nowhere.

Of course the cost of owning a vehicle has gone way the hell up since 70 years ago, resulting in a horrible situation for anybody living on minimum/near-minimum wage!

Remember in Who Framed Roger Rabbit when they dismantle the red car to make way for a big fat freeway with personal automobiles? Yeah, that was a lot more historical retelling than just a jokey cartoon movie thing.

transit + social justice = 2 of my favorite things