Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Straphanger

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By 1920, the network of interurbans in the US was so dense that a determined commuter could hop interlinked streetcars from Waterville, Maine, to Sheboygan, Wisconsin—a journey of 1,000 miles—exclusively by electric trolley.
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The tracks, and often the wires, extended deep into forest and farmland, making the railroads de facto intercity highways; after nightfall in the countryside, farmers would signal drivers to stop by burning a rag next to the track.
Streetcars and interurbans became the dominant mode of urban transportation in North America, carrying 11 billion passengers a year by the end of the First World War.
Read 9 tweets
For those reasons, and others, I considered Switzerland an anomaly, hardly a model to be extrapolated to other nations. But I see its fantastic non-car transport options have a lot to teach the world.
I was staying near a village with a population of 780 in the canton of Vaud, in the foothills of the Jura Mountain. To get there from the #Geneva airport, I hopped on to a high-speed train, an escalator ride away from the baggage carousel... Image
Departures every 10 minutes or so, along the lakeshore of Lac LĂ©man, to #Lausanne, #Vevey, #Montreux. Downtown #Geneva is *six minutes* away from the airport by train. Many of the trains have kids' playrooms on the upper levels. And of course you can take on a bicycle... Image
Read 33 tweets
“ #Switzerland has the best public transit in the world.” 🇹🇭

That’s what many transport experts told me when I was researching my book #Straphanger.

After 6 weeks of getting to know the country’s network, I’m beginning to think they have a point. Here’s why
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I'd been to Switzerland a few times before, and was duly impressed with its rail network, and the transit in its larger cities... Image
...esp. #Zurich, with its trams. "There's little reason to travel in an automotive cocoon when, for a fare of only a few francs, an efficient, stately tramway will provide transportation from point A to B at a level of comfort an emperor might have envied."
—Alain de Botton Image
Read 21 tweets
By 1920, the network of interurbans in the US was so dense that a determined commuter could theoretically
hop interlinked streetcars from Waterville, Maine, to Sheboygan, Wisconsin—a journey of 1,000 miles—exclusively by electric trolley.
The video above shows a vintage 1932 trolley from Scranton, the "Electric City" of Pennsylvania.
The wires extended deep into forest and farmland,
making the electric railroads de facto intercity highways; after nightfall in the countryside, some farmers would signal the motorman to stop by burning a rag next to the track. ImageImageImage
Read 8 tweets

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