One thing I would point out is that a quick search for Ukraine automobile ownership indicates that Ukraine has about the number of road vehicles per capita that one would expect given per-capita income: pretty low https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita
It stands to reason that unlike American transit agencies (and I'm thinking specifically of New York but if anything it's probably more extreme elsewhere) those thousands of employees largely ride transit to their own jobs and are invested in the system personally, rather than being yet another reserve army of resentful motorists.
Yes, this is very true. Alon Levy's Soviet Bloc Way blog post -- which has been mentioned in my article -- touches upon the relatively low car ownership since the Communist era. Levy notes Soviet Bloc cities with centrally planned Metros have held up high ridership figures after fall of Communism -- which opened up more opportunities for city residents to purchase a car. https://pedestrianobservations.com/2019/01/25/the-soviet-bloc-way-of-building-rapid-transit/
Spot on. I'd add considering the lack of democracy in practice, it's probably also very important that hundreds of oligarchic employers in Ukraine are also invested in having their labour delivered up as cheaply and timely. Using the automobile as an additional method of extracting wealth and transferring it upward has not gained much interest as they are already doing a fine job of picking the pockets of the working class and the national weal by far more efficient methods.
The ones I find both hopeful and head scratching are the Dutch, who turned away from the automobile so strongly despite having such a high GDP per capita. The YouTube Channel "Not Just Bikes" has a number of video play lists about it.
Hong Kong MTR underground trains also do not have a (published) schedule (though they do publish the first and last subway train of the day departure times for each station on each line. The spacing is interesting concept. Hong Kong train station spacing is much more irregular, at least on Hong Kong Island, with geography and zone population density/development density driving the spacing.
Thanks for writing in as always. I think MTR’s is a lot like NYC Subway; I remember hearing from a longtime rail fan confidential timetables for its subway lines were leaked many years ago and was the subject of much fascination and furor in the railfan community.
The spacing is harder to be dogmatic about if contending with geography, but the Soviets (or at least Stalin) would have moved Heaven and earth to build the right Metro in their image.
A bit jealous. I hope to see the stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg, from the images I've seen they certainly were a product of the Soviet Socialist Realism movement.
The Hong Kong ones were products of Britain's need to export Hong Kong's massive foreign reserves back to the UK, so were extremely well built, even overbuilt to inflate costs. They also reflected a certain colonial attitude like no toilets, no seats or benches for the elderly on platforms. There has been a effort to humanize the service, particularly the brutalist architecture, after 1997.
I enjoy your writing, unlike a lot of rail fans you look past the physical assets to how the systems reflect their society. Besides "Not Just Bikes" I can recommend https://www.strongtowns.org/. They might also repost / link to some of your articles, so you might want to approach them.
It is fairly dramatic to delete a comment but that's what I think you should do to "Yury", especially at this time of the death of Navalny. Yury might also consider why his boss is so gutless and afraid to mention Navalny by name. Well, he can murder him but Navalny and his spirit in Russia is going nowhere. Maybe voters can write in Navalny's name on the ballots in next month's election! That would be the best requiem.
[SY Lee; if you choose to delete Yury you are free to delete my post too. Given the Russian troll factories you should stay vigilant on posts to this article.]
I did not delete any comments nor have I ever deleted comments. I have stayed away from Substack for a few months, so I am confused entirely by what your comment is about.
It is Russian propaganda and misinformation against Ukraine, by "Yury" submitted on 10 Feb. Most blogs would not allow such stuff to remain on their site. Personally I would delete it but obviously it is your choice. At the least please read it.
“Occupied country” plak-plak-plak. Let's start with the fact that Ukraine as an independent (formally) country emerged as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This is not a country, it is a fragment of the Union. Russia cannot “occupy” what is rightfully its. Just as China will not “occupy” Taiwan, because... Even the United States recognizes Taiwan as part of China.
As for the victims, firstly, if you shed tears for the children of Ukraine, then cry for the children of Donbass. And secondly, here in Russia we remember the chants of Ukrainians “Москаляку на гиляку” (it means "Russian to the gallows") , etc. We remember the captured soldiers of the nationalist Azov battalion, who were covered from head to toe in swastikas and Nazi runes. We remember the glorification of Bandera and Shukhevych at the state level in Ukraine. So there is no need to crow about the "innocent victims of terrible aggression".
And about the “occupation” of other countries. I would like to know what US soldiers are doing in Syria? Nobody invited them there. For some reason they are occupying oil fields in this country. Isn't it time for the whole world to impose sanctions against the United States, the occupying country?
Very interesting write-up, thank you.
One thing I would point out is that a quick search for Ukraine automobile ownership indicates that Ukraine has about the number of road vehicles per capita that one would expect given per-capita income: pretty low https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita
It stands to reason that unlike American transit agencies (and I'm thinking specifically of New York but if anything it's probably more extreme elsewhere) those thousands of employees largely ride transit to their own jobs and are invested in the system personally, rather than being yet another reserve army of resentful motorists.
Yes, this is very true. Alon Levy's Soviet Bloc Way blog post -- which has been mentioned in my article -- touches upon the relatively low car ownership since the Communist era. Levy notes Soviet Bloc cities with centrally planned Metros have held up high ridership figures after fall of Communism -- which opened up more opportunities for city residents to purchase a car. https://pedestrianobservations.com/2019/01/25/the-soviet-bloc-way-of-building-rapid-transit/
Spot on. I'd add considering the lack of democracy in practice, it's probably also very important that hundreds of oligarchic employers in Ukraine are also invested in having their labour delivered up as cheaply and timely. Using the automobile as an additional method of extracting wealth and transferring it upward has not gained much interest as they are already doing a fine job of picking the pockets of the working class and the national weal by far more efficient methods.
The ones I find both hopeful and head scratching are the Dutch, who turned away from the automobile so strongly despite having such a high GDP per capita. The YouTube Channel "Not Just Bikes" has a number of video play lists about it.
Hong Kong MTR underground trains also do not have a (published) schedule (though they do publish the first and last subway train of the day departure times for each station on each line. The spacing is interesting concept. Hong Kong train station spacing is much more irregular, at least on Hong Kong Island, with geography and zone population density/development density driving the spacing.
Thanks for writing in as always. I think MTR’s is a lot like NYC Subway; I remember hearing from a longtime rail fan confidential timetables for its subway lines were leaked many years ago and was the subject of much fascination and furor in the railfan community.
The spacing is harder to be dogmatic about if contending with geography, but the Soviets (or at least Stalin) would have moved Heaven and earth to build the right Metro in their image.
A bit jealous. I hope to see the stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg, from the images I've seen they certainly were a product of the Soviet Socialist Realism movement.
The Hong Kong ones were products of Britain's need to export Hong Kong's massive foreign reserves back to the UK, so were extremely well built, even overbuilt to inflate costs. They also reflected a certain colonial attitude like no toilets, no seats or benches for the elderly on platforms. There has been a effort to humanize the service, particularly the brutalist architecture, after 1997.
I always learn so much from you, especially on HK, J M. Thanks for reading my posts and commenting on them.
Please feel open to share any details on HK transit with me.
I enjoy your writing, unlike a lot of rail fans you look past the physical assets to how the systems reflect their society. Besides "Not Just Bikes" I can recommend https://www.strongtowns.org/. They might also repost / link to some of your articles, so you might want to approach them.
It is fairly dramatic to delete a comment but that's what I think you should do to "Yury", especially at this time of the death of Navalny. Yury might also consider why his boss is so gutless and afraid to mention Navalny by name. Well, he can murder him but Navalny and his spirit in Russia is going nowhere. Maybe voters can write in Navalny's name on the ballots in next month's election! That would be the best requiem.
[SY Lee; if you choose to delete Yury you are free to delete my post too. Given the Russian troll factories you should stay vigilant on posts to this article.]
I did not delete any comments nor have I ever deleted comments. I have stayed away from Substack for a few months, so I am confused entirely by what your comment is about.
It is Russian propaganda and misinformation against Ukraine, by "Yury" submitted on 10 Feb. Most blogs would not allow such stuff to remain on their site. Personally I would delete it but obviously it is your choice. At the least please read it.
“Occupied country” plak-plak-plak. Let's start with the fact that Ukraine as an independent (formally) country emerged as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This is not a country, it is a fragment of the Union. Russia cannot “occupy” what is rightfully its. Just as China will not “occupy” Taiwan, because... Even the United States recognizes Taiwan as part of China.
As for the victims, firstly, if you shed tears for the children of Ukraine, then cry for the children of Donbass. And secondly, here in Russia we remember the chants of Ukrainians “Москаляку на гиляку” (it means "Russian to the gallows") , etc. We remember the captured soldiers of the nationalist Azov battalion, who were covered from head to toe in swastikas and Nazi runes. We remember the glorification of Bandera and Shukhevych at the state level in Ukraine. So there is no need to crow about the "innocent victims of terrible aggression".
And about the “occupation” of other countries. I would like to know what US soldiers are doing in Syria? Nobody invited them there. For some reason they are occupying oil fields in this country. Isn't it time for the whole world to impose sanctions against the United States, the occupying country?