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The Dumbest Excuse for Bad Cities

Not Just Bikes · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Transit, cities & urban planning

What it is

Not Just Bikes takes on the common excuse that a country is simply too big or spread out for good transit and walkable cities. The video argues that city density and short everyday trips matter, not national size or overall population density.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN users cite it as the standard rebuttal whenever someone says that America is too big for rail or good urban design.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2023, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “Notjustbikes posted a good video rebutting this argument a few days ago”

    Rebuts country size as excuse for poor transit

    jtakkala, 2023-06 · Recommendation · in “Maps Distort How We See the World”

  2. “is also directly refuted”

    Directly refutes the country-size excuse

    pierat, 2023-08 · Recommendation · in “Armed with traffic cones, protesters are immobilizing driverless cars”

  3. “For a video describing how wrong it is, refer to Not Just Bikes”

    Explains why the size-of-country argument is wrong

    sofixa, 2024-03 · Recommendation · in “Tesla's $25,000 Car Means Tossing Out the 100-Year-Old Assembly Line”

  4. “Here’s a video that explores the topic if you’re curious”

    Explores why country size isn't what limits rail

    CalRobert, 2026-01 · Recommendation · in “London became the rest of the startup capital”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: urbanism, public transit, car dependence, density, rail

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