Losing Lone Amtrak Route, Americans Confused By Urbanism Meme, & More
Around the College Towns: Links and commentary related to urbanism and higher ed for the week of April 27 - May 2.
Note: I use this link round-up to (mostly) focus on stories that fell through the cracks in terms of higher ed and urbanism, rather than big national news (although, sometimes I am forced to do the big stuff). Please send over any tips, authors, or content to cover. I have a new custom domain: CollegeTowns.org.
Rare Amtrak Route May Shutter
The Heartland Flyer, which links Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, may be permanently grounded. It is the only Amtrak route that serves Oklahoma. The four-hour train trip between Oklahoma and Texas cities runs three trains a day.
The reason given for the potential closure of the line is that the Texas state government wants to cut its portion of the budget ($3.5 million per year). The rest of the budget comes from the state of Oklahoma at $4.5 million and Amtrak at $10.5 million, the latter coming from fares.
Growing up in the OKC metro, the line seemed more like a gimmick, popular with bachelor parties or special events. But this may be too simplistic, as the route saw 80,000 riders last year at an 11% increase (they can’t all be bachelor parties!). A study showed the economic benefit of the Heartland Flyer was around $18 million just to the Texas economy.
The drive to Fort Worth from Dallas is comparable: 3 and a half hours in a car. Throw in a bathroom and gas break, and it’s likely longer than the train. A round trip is roughly $80, which I could see as an issue for a family or group, but competitive for an individual business traveler.
It is a bummer to see my home state moving backwards in terms of urbanism, especially as train services are seemingly doing better in other places. There are even expansions of lines coming, like the upcoming Gulf Coast line called Amtrak Mardi Gras Service (Fun!). I hope my home state can work this out with our rival state.
Other Links
Urbanism
An author wonders why she likes sitting in her car for so long (seriously). This is something I simply cannot relate to, which makes it an interesting read!
A Caltrain employee was found guilty of misappropriating $38K of public funding to build an apartment in a train station. Hey, he built an apartment affordably with public money in California!. Don’t fire him, put him in charge!
Rolling Stone has an exposé on Portland’s experimentation with drug liberalization, in particular fentanyl. It has been a disaster for the city, and there is now a retreat from these policies.
Very similar, Seattle residents around the park clash over public nudity and indecent exposure. I’m hoping to have a future post on West Coast sensibilities around Libertine public space vs. Puritan private space. Very bizarre outcomes.
Tired: Lawns. Wired: Natural lawns. Inspired: Meadowscaping.
Education
Korea has long lost its intellectual talent to the US and the West, but now the country is losing top scientists to China, too.
I missed this last month, but a colleague suggests the way to fight back against cuts in higher ed is to cancel college sports this year.
African countries create a new joint space agency. I have long said we need a new space race. Let’s race to the stars again.
A study that manipulated Reddit with AI draws ire. I will have a future post on research ethics (so you all can probably skip that week).
Duolingo is replacing workers with AI. I am no AI doomer, but more of this is to come that will have negative externalities, both expected and unexpected kinds.
Some students aren’t using AI because of environmental sensibilities.
Two universities announced their closure in one week: St. Andrews University in North Carolina and Limestone University in South Carolina.
Around Substack
Note: I also think it’s important to shout out some fellow Substackers whom I am reading here this week. Here are a few:
, author of Capitalizing on College, has a Substack called where he continues his deep dive into the workings of higher ed.
With a school’s survival now tied to enrollment engines, competition became unavoidable and schools turned their attention to identifying and developing new enrollment markets. This new funding system meant that to find a new enrollment market was to dig up a proverbial pot of gold—so long as you found it faster than your neighbor who was furiously shoveling next to you—and could hold onto it once unearthed.
For some urbanism Substackers,
at dives into some data on working from home (WFH), including differences between countries and the impact on car sales. It is great data that I will flag for future posts.
many observers believed that WFH would reduce VMT (vehicle miles traveled), as commuting dropped, and with lower VMT cars would wear out more slowly, and thus demand for them (thus car sales) would fall. As best as we can tell this never actually happened.
In more Substacks on cars,
at dove into the potential impact of self-driving cars that are owned privately, so not just the Uber/ Waymo model. His take is more negative than my own, but another important externality to consider.I concluded: It really is all coming together: We have tiny houses, then tiny houses on wheels, people living in buses and now this- mobile autonomous nation.
Finally… Americans Confused About What Makes a Good Third Place
There was a viral post on X that I found pretty funny because of the responses by fellow Americans. It follows the meme “_____ mind cannot comprehend this.” I’ve poked fun at the format myself with photos from Buc-ee's.
The post by Cigarette Dystopia depicts a pretty standard European street, with three friends drinking beers, smoking cigarettes, and conversing together on a pedestrianized street. It is the classic Third Place that is so important to the community. The joke is that Americans no longer have such places due to suburban development (♪♫♬They paved paradise and put up a parking lot♪♫♬).
I have written a lot about this myself, and I will have something on Third Places here on College Towns in the future. But the responses to the meme showed Americans simply do not get what makes these places special. I have compiled some of my favorites here (without linking to avoid pile-ons):
There are plenty of places to drink beer outdoors with your friends in America. Is there really that much aesthetic value in doing so the street with no cars?
Sitting outside on a dirty ass street having a beer? Hell I can do that a mile from here from our little Irish pub. Except the sidewalk is clean and I'm not in the damned road.
You act as if American's dont have their own private backyard covered patios and can't enjoy a drink outside lol. Comon...
@AskPerplexity explain this post
The American mind comprehends exactly this every summer vacation
The bad news: a lot of Americans simply cannot understand what makes that kind of place so good and important to community.
The good news: my writing that tries to convince Americans why such places are good and important to community is still as relevant as ever.
According to your numbers, Amtrak is spending $18.5 million on the route. That’s $231 for each of the 80,000 passengers. With an $80 fare, their loss is $151 per passenger.