Why Japan Has Such Good Railways. “Their system excels because of good public policy: business structure, land use rules, driving rules, superior models for privatization, and sound regulation.” Other countries can follow their lead.
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Comments 2
The president of Tokyu Corporation (one of the legacy private railways in southern Tokyo) said: "We create cities and then, as a utility facility, we add the stations and the railways to connect them one with another." Mind blown.
From the outside of Japan and the inside of the US: I think the fact that they live in a high trust society where both citizens and employees are trying to do the right thing and there's a lot of integrity floating around makes it work.
Whereas if you ported this model to the US you'd end up getting killed by the "eff you I got mine" attitude that is so prevalent in both employees, owners and customers. Where you have to survive grift from land owners, public servants, contractors, employees and the ridership itself. The automobile is the natural consequence of and the ultimate testament to our inability to trust each other in our society.
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