Looking at other states, give us an ideal outcome or goal for your design challenge using real world examples. Be sure to tell us why the ideal system works better than what we have in Texas.
I believe that you cant really call another cities transportation ideal just because it works better than what we have at home. however there certainly are other parts of the country that have sufficient access to public transportation and make it easier than what we sadly have in our largest cities in Texas.
Take for example New York city. with around 4.3 million people using its subway lines each day that amounts to a vast majority of the cities population using a convenient public system of transportation. with he recent implementation of policies set by the state the MTA of new York is planning to switch and upgrade more efficient train cars. https://www.ny.gov/help-improve-new-York-city’s-subway-service/increasing-capacity-and-reliability-subway-system. The improvement in signaling systems would increase the number of trains at peak periods. obviously the new York subway lines aren’t perfect but the steps that they are taking in making it better to serve a population greater than what we have here in Houston shows potential that we could have a similar system running in our cities in Texas dealing with a vast increased in automobile congestion.
Chicago is another city that we can learn from. like New York they too are planning to modify their rail lines to be more energy efficient and are rolling out electric train cars that are not only going to create better and safer forms of the transportation system there but also ease more congestion by having better running and efficient vehicles. https://www.transitchicago.com/environment/
new train cars proposed for the nyc subway system
Furthermore such types of transportation already exist in some form in the greater Houston area as well as in other cities. the metro rail is a promising venture to overcome congestion. sadly its only limited to certain portions of the city. however if it where to be expanded upon this would I think be a game changer and have a similar outcome as it does in New York with their rail system.of course building subway lines in Houston is near impossible given the geography but above rail lines would work just as well.
Suggest:
Houston Proper’s Metro Rail (https://www.ridemetro.org/Pages/Rail.aspx/posted/2491/METRORail_SystemMap1_27_2010.468583.pdf) is a smaller version of what other large cities are using for public transit. If Houston could expand this system to more areas of the city, such as New York City’s underground subway system, this could be a major help in the fight against congestion.
Did not rewrite. Scored as Inquiry.
Inquire:”New York state has adopted congestion pricing to deal with traffic problems in New York City. Starting in 2021, fees will be imposed on all vehicles entering a pricing zone that covers lower Manhattan” https://theconversation.com/new-york-gets-serious-about-traffic-with-the-first-citywide-us-congestion-pricing-plan-114682 you should add this to your argument because the amount of transportation Network have that is good it is also the New rules that New York is doing to help regulate and control the streets and with congestion pricing it can make even more people switch from car to public transportation and you can also relate this back to Houston
Inquiry: An environmental benefit that comes from the subways is when the subways are replaced. When they are removed they are used as reefs for wild fish in the ocean. The Artificial Reef Program is seen as the greatest benefit to the surrounding ecosystem. https://sites.google.com/a/cornell.edu/new-york-city-mta-sustainability-action-plan/environmental-impacts