the, the metro systems are of critical importance for mobility. societies are becoming ever more urbanized. while ridership peaked in 2019, at 58300000 right before the cobit pen demik in north america. countries around the

world are continuing to invest in infrastructure that are safe efficiency and sustainable alternative to private cars. i'm christy, and you're watching the cost of everything we're today. we're going to be examining the cost of public transportation and how it varies between the us and elsewhere in the world. the wide of east asia has such a better transportation system, the north america, despite the u. s. having economic dominance and global power. while the 20th century american society develops actually around the automobile and north america is relatively sparsely populated. so modern cities are very spread out, and the car is the ideal transport solution. the us population density is 110th of india's and quite low compared to western europe as well. public transportation,

on the other hand, requires a lot of volume to work. the new york city subway was also built cheaply, unlike other underground systems in the world which often consider aesthetics as part of their design. the new york subway was always built with efficiency in mind . it also had no planning at the beginning of 19 o 4 through 1930. it was pretty much 3 separate subway companies that competed with each other and had absolutely no interest in making it easy to use for their competitor. in many places lived crossed over each other without connecting or pass within a block without doing so. east asia also does not have the luxury of space, so have to pursue public transport more seriously. on top of that east asia experienced rapid economic development since 19 forties when they were introducing new trade networks. and these were bound to be more advanced than the legacy transport system of american cities that were built in 19

o. 4 parts of the american system are over a 150 years old. the sheer size and density of the cities also contribute to high ridership. so korea has a population of nearly $23000000.00 people with $22700.00 people per square mile. type pay has $8500000.00 people, but a population density of $19400.00 people per square mile. and in contrast, new york city has just a population of $21000000.00, but a population density of only $4500.00 people per square mile. a high speed trains are also extremely expensive. it's a very high tech product that requires precise manufacturing. so that 1000 metric tons of trains can travel at 300 kilometers per hour because it is so heavy and travel so fast. the track it requires is also very difficult to construct because of the expense associated with it. high speed rail makes the most sense when the

distance is not that long. it has to be a distance where it's too far to drive, but too close to fly conveniently, or about less than 500 miles between population centers. population density, again, also has to remain high so that ridership is high and can recruit costs from tickets. but because high speed rail tens, dispatcher, vast expenses of land across various local jurisdictions, a strong political will, is a requirement. typically a strong political regime or a strong central government, like the case of china and japan, is where it will get implemented. for the vast majority of developing countries, the lack of money and the lack of a strong centralized government are the main obstacles. in the u. s. there is the fundamental issue of the lack of population density to justify the huge expense upfront. americans also have a very unique political culture, with an emphasis on the protection of private property rights over public goods and

valuing the sense of personal freedom and private vehicles. americans also have a very divided political structure where every jurisdiction is at odds with each other, with varying agendas and priorities. according to the world economic forum, global competitive index, japan ranks the highest when it comes to railroad infrastructure quality and efficiency of trains services. this is followed by hong kong, south korea, singapore, taiwan, malaysia, indonesia and china in a place of america isn't even in the top 20 the main industry in the us since the 19 ten's was car manufacturing. because of this developing a good mass, transit and transportation infrastructure would go against this japan, even though it had a car industry was aware of the major differences between it and the us. japan is a small and area, so even with their excellent roads,

they with the traffic jams everywhere. hence they developed a good railway and bust system in the 1970s. china is large and area, but the city still have a high population density. and because of this, they had to develop modern railway stations and bus lives, share dock list. bicycles are also everywhere. and over 50 cities have a metro system with train services from beijing to shanghai, taking only 4 hours to travel 700 miles outside of new york. most us cities have extremely poor public transportation. public transportation is used almost exclusively by the lower income class and bus services exist in most cities, but they are privacy and not very expensive and not on schedule. while new york has the biggest metro system, they're not very extensive outside of the city. and unfortunately, 45 percent of americans have no access to transit. much of the existing system is

aging in transit agencies often lack sufficient funds to keep existing systems in good working order. of 19 percent of trans of vehicles have been rated in poor condition. and there is currently a $176000000000.00 transit backlog. a deficit that is expected to only grow more to 270000000000 through 2029. meanwhile, transit ridership is also declining. so now let's bring in christian wal mart broadcaster specializing and transport an author of a series of books on railway history. so 1st of all, how expensive would it be to repair the new york subway or cities better off starting from scratch or repairing them? the toners with subways is that they each talk actually, rules of money. it just him for the amounts of money. and the deal subway is

constructed large and hard rock. so it's very difficult to expand. it's valuable to build you lines. it's old, incredibly expensive, but know you called stuff the guy that would be even more expensive because you do have the titles and sometimes that quite wide and you managed of express trains which lots of systems don't. so essentially you have to invest do what you've got bought. i mean, just based on a i only a few weeks ago, i must say that a monk, subway systems are the well the new york one is looking a bit to todd old. our trains even a profitable business model anymore, given the enormous initial financial outliers of the play about 2 hours is they, i've never profitable business muscle. they all know about business around ways have, you know, for the beginning of time. 18 to 2 are the 1st well worries. i've always be very

expensive to build quite expensive to run up and make all sorts of great all sorts of benefits or welfare guides for whole communities. but the trouble is they can only charge a certain level of fast so well the like roads, in fact, they are just uh, an essential part of the capital assist of but they don't fit in particularly well with the calculus multiply in the united states. you have extremely profitable freight, right. why is which last very long distances and uh, making a lot of money bought the passenger network which existed in america from really the aging such as food to the, of the postwar period, which really covers the whole country is now just a shadow. it's for myself, you have amtrak, which is stage road. you have some good services in the northeast,

call it all between mazda of washington the like, bought at you don't have an effective passenger rail service. and that's because the bulk of the federal government essentially refused to fund a pass into services, particularly in the 1950s. 1960 is that all shot down, as i explained in my book, the great a railroads a, the great well railroad revolution. and essentially, you'll never get to get back to a situation where like, as in your where we have, you know, focusing passenger railways, which by law law, speaking by lawless benefits, the society as a whole. how much does it cost a city to have a robust public transportation system as well? uh it's, it's difficult to get precise. think guys, but you get figures like something like maybe

a $50000000.00 for every mile. the chinese have managed to get a box lower than that because they built so many systems and labor costs the far less so the chinese have built remarkable $50.00 subway systems in the last 50 years. uh, you know, in different uh, cities some, some of them with uh, 15 or 16 lives like it in shanghai. so uh, it is possible. i lots of other cities of the world have built uh some places. ready in the last 203040 years, you know, they are incredibly beneficial for the city. is that the base of the public space? you need municipal governments that have the coverage to invest in them. they take a long time in london here. we've just opened a new line which costs some 25000000000. busy dollars and took

about 50 years to develop a school that elizabeth live named best outlet queen. and it's a fantastic success. it has about $600000.00 people using it every day, even though it's less than a year old. so subway systems are all about making a city is accessible, enabling people to move it to the city center, to jobs, and to live in the suburbs quite follow out because they know they couldn't get in that quickly. i'm new york has a fantastic system. the trouble is, uh, it needs absolutely amazing amounts of investments to bring it up into the 21st century. it really doesn't look at the moment like a, a railway system that new yorkers can be proud of. now there are many arguments against building public transportation in cities as it could bring in more crime to

the suburban neighborhoods. so what do you have to say about that? and i think the arguments against public transport systems are very same. uh, there's no way that they, they create drive. in fact, by enabling lots of people to mix together in a pretty safe environment. they actually discourage drive and they create a neighborhoods that can function very well quite far away from city centers, fax to the fact that people can get in to those. a city sentence over a time of the cost of the well, but could look at, you know, all sorts of cities with very good transport systems, which i feel a safe and as good places to live bikes to a subway systems and bust systems. and whatever, you know, you have to realize that city centers, adult, ready made for cause and even in your record,

i stop. thank you so much christian walmart. but please stick around. kristen. wal mart will be joining us right here after the break. and when we come back, how reliable is public transportation elsewhere in the world? that you know, the answer will have more after the break, the russian rage. that means tanks or troops crossing the border. grades again we, there will be no longer we, we will, they wanted to change the situation where western europe is dependent upon the russian guest to a situation. well, western europe is dependent on n g a. m, or you can guess, and that's it. but it is so i truly,

thanks to be you creating a wall. so here we are in it says in post and a 2 crisis which leads to the emigration of companies. less industry. and this is just the continuation of the adult. oh, best the website and also in that go, bush is divided, giving in the same way as the sub is in that same way as though you've got some time we is that will be a problem 10 most by little boys. obviously chuck, that is the watson has sent me, is that all see i used to be the western expectation was that pressure, the december lies by extreme sanctions and the military

losses. uh, there was an expectation that the prussia wouldn't be able to continue the war like longer than a for a period of time longer than probably a couple of months. welcome back to the cost of everything. now, in europe, there's practically no populated place. you can't get to buy public transit. it is reliable as the service is scheduled regularly, frequently, and dependably. in the us, there are thousands of communities that cannot be reached except by private car. and there is no commercial or government train or bus service available. europe has nearly 50 urban metro systems by the us, only has 15. the trains are generally the best way to get around europe as tickets

costs are very affordable. france is also planning to invest a 100000000000 euros into rail transport by 2040 as part of the government's push to reduce the countries carbon footprint. this will expand and upgrade the rail network and launch express commuter change in major cities. and this is also to tackle the perceived inequalities between paris and other parts of the country is when it comes to public infrastructure. especially when the energy costs are going up, making transportation expensive for millions of computers. now in japan, the rail network of the 3 largest metropolitan areas which include tokyo, nagoya, and those saca are perhaps the most efficient in the world. the can title ition concept has operated for over half a century without a single derailment or collision, and only has an average departure at the light of 18 seconds. along the 320 mile

route. and in japan, they choose not to compensate loss is made by these public projects and instead allow private firms to do the business efficiently and profitably. so the operators of japan's public wells transport suffering losses for years, and the government used its budget to offset those resulting in a fiscal deficit. japan later decided to have all public transport projects run by private firms. today, most public transport services in japan are operated by private firms who run other businesses to earn profits. things like running advertisements on the trans system or leasing out kiosks and station and stores in the vicinity. in japan's too big is public transport systems in tokyo, in osaka, turned around after suffering losses. once it became privatized to become tokyo, metro and no soccer metro. japan has about a 170 companies that operate railway routes. and none of them are state owned.

before the pandemic, the subway operators actually posted a profit of $362000000.00 in japan. tram lines have been around for a 100 years and on average tokyo bills at least one additional line a year. whereas in the us, it takes an average of 5 years or more, depending on capital availability and land acquisition. privatization was a boon to railways in japan, while rise and car ownership was a recipe for disaster for america's once private railways. and for more, let's bring in again, kristen. walmart, broadcast is specializing and transport. an author of a series of books on railway history. now christian, the homeless population is growing in europe as well as the us. does this put a strain on public transportation and public services in general? public transport systems, always the policing as they function?

the bass, if you do have stopped at every station i, i know that some systems i have absolutely no, not very many stuff. essentially they do, they stop at even at a remote stations. they what much better live that it makes people, particularly women feel safe and it shows you're not getting the homeless people sleeping in the systems and so on. so the solution is not to say, oh, we don't want to build public transport systems. the solution is to effectively manage those systems well and it show that they are safe for people to use and that, that lost off available to the one be the comforting people. uh, thing that people want is to say stop that, but it's kind of around the ticket guys showing that people that to jump over them and the likes. and that makes a lot of difference and it's

a full economy. they just think that you could run these systems without people indeed, without driver's, which is technically possible, but not a fantastic the size and how much money it has in us invested in train infrastructure versus other countries. and where does all of this money go? uh well the us uh, system has had some public money. i called you precise figures. i bought most of that has gone uh, adjusted a few places, a few cities that do have public transport systems or a few recipients with the light rail systems as well. a walk, the united states slacks is a federal government that is prepared to say, look we, we need to review out our transport system, alvaro's system, link up. lots of places, a gateway would rattle railways, maybe a high speed route wise, or maybe just conventional by wise bought to actually recreate or kind of passenger

route so. so close. that's a little difficult and it age of, of the i've applied. but yeah, there is a big market for, well, china is that site 3 or 400 miles between cities because of the hassle of going out to an apple. it's in fly and all the security of stuff is much greater . so uh, you know, it does it say that america lost its, essentially lost its passenger rail and that way it's never going to recreate it to the way that it existed. but it could never the less that i saw that inside the city passed. i could texas, or in california, you could get a systems that were affective, they'll never probably quite pay for themselves, but they will take a lot of calls off the road and, and show that there's much less congestion for those who are still driving. and now there are some countries that don't have trains at all like iceland in greenland.

so why has some countries not adopted trains this i'm, i'm spending all it isolated as it happens right to this. yeah. there's a few countries that have, have had rail systems and i've taken about, i swear these are pretty small country with a pretty small population. it doesn't really work. i agree that has it even smaller population. that some countries in africa that don't really have a functioning well systems and that's probably for historical reasons that were never built policy because maybe they don't manage them on there for example, and share with the other they. they used to have a bit of a rail system and that's been a bad cause. a railway systems do need management, they need tender loving care, they need investments, and those countries which i've lost, that route was probably great. he would regret doing so. i mean,

even places like leg also have building kind of do a well networks because they, they recognize that uh, just the road system is, is to k all take box. so historically, that have been places that didn't really invest much as well. box. most countries in the world did one part of a railway. busy most countries still do have some sort of a roadway system. it might be for freight, it might be somebody systems inside the cities, or it might be the main live passenger links between the cities. but most countries of the world do. and now that's pretty amazing because these, the way the concepts of ours is now the 200 years old, 1830. the 1st row was and uh, as a child support system, it, it survive competition from cause competition dramatically. ation of it's by, it's kind of uh, all sorts of technical changes. and indeed in many places, well,

these apps, the flower stream predictor with high speed rails, railways and subway systems as a big, big freight realize where you'll trustworthy a really large amounts. say from a chloe or mine or something where it's actually unbelievably cheaper to do that by rail than any other means. countries that have private for profit and metro businesses perform better than a publicly run metro system in japan. it has a sort of privatized system. uh, they actually, uh, it was privatized with a big, kind of vital for the state. but there's actually very few places where a passenger rail system can pay for its way. but uh, in, in india, the passenger route network is allowed to subsidize from a very profitable fact. right?

wise in obamacare last night. the fact that was a very profitable amtrak gets a big subsidy from uh, the federal government. um, is it the whole play developed right away is, is that the rule was, as i mentioned, the societies will benefit all the time. so something that fits well into a standard capitalist model, and that's because they were cloud vast amounts of investment. the operating costs are quite high, but, and they need to operate throughout the day whether it's by rush out drives and kind of less profitable uh, of peaks drives. so they, they don't really look as conventional businesses with, as i say, the exception of kind of a few exceptions, particularly fact where it was. but they do look as uh, something that benefit society. thank you so much for your time today,

kristen walmart. now the biggest winner in this infrastructure race is definitely going to be china who has the world's largest high speed rail network. china has built a network that spans nearly 25000 miles and is now the world's largest from bullet trains that can travel up to 220 miles per hour. this network is continuously getting built out with plans to extend it to up 250000 kilometers 52025200000 kilometers by 2035. with this expanded network, 99 percent of cities with more than 200000 residents will have access to the general well, a network in china. 90 percent of cities with more than 500000 residents will have access to the high speed railway network. and this is a huge undertaking that happened because over the course of the last 10 years, china had invested over $600000000000.00 into building railway in remote and less

developed areas to bring rail services to more than a 130 counties. these achievements have not come easily and are the result of huge investments and the efforts of more than 2 mil 1000000 railway workers. i'm christy. i thanks for watching and we'll see you right back here next time on the cost of everything. the with the discovery of the new world, at the end of the 15th century, there appeared atlantics laved re. the slave traders from european countries started building fords on the western coast of the african continent to transport

the african inhabitants to america to be forced into hard labor until the middle of the 17th century portugal headlight. the main role in the said process business. been great britain, france, and the netherlands took the leadership for this fan of 400 years of legal and illegal slave trade. about 17000000 people were forcefully shipped across the atlantic. not including those who died on the way due to fund of the living conditions. modern historians estimate that for each slave ship to america, there were 5 who died while captured during transportation and cruel obliteration of rebellion. this roof was the phrase practiced by the leading european countries took away tens of millions of african lives. the organization of united nations class advised the trends atlantics laved rate,

as one of the greatest human rights abuses in the history of humanity. this is the biggest act of deep orientation of people ever seen by mankind. the russians defense industries have exposes, have upheld a ukrainian terrorist attack on the belle grove legion, pushing a group of summit to the back put on to the refund last friday and strikes on russian territory intensive, i believe, could be bought a ton of should be i can have repeatedly had 5 shelly leaving 2 dead on the city of go laptops and so coming under fire. and in india, an accident involving 3 trains of the eastern states of a day should become of the countries was well dissolved in that case claim even lives if at least $275.00 piece.