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this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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Have you ever heard of buses and trains? Almost every town over here with 10.000 inhabitants has trains running every 15 minutes in either direction.
The town I lived in with 90,000 residents had buses that didn't run after 6pm or before 6am, so if you worked part time at a retail store that opened earlier or closed later at night buses were not an option.
Yes I believe we should be expanding and funding out public transportation, but until that happens we can't just get rid of cars.
Stop shaming people for driving and instead shame politicians for not making it easier to ditch cars. It's simply not possible for everyone everywhere.
Ah I think I finally see the misunderstanding. I don’t see anyone in this thread shaming anyone for using cars. What you say about pressuring politicians is totally compatible with the person you’re responding to. So it’s confusing why you think you’re on opposing sides?
I don’t think using cars is a personal moral failing. But if people are so fragile that we can’t criticize car dependence without it being taken personally, then progress is literally impossible.
That's my point. Cars can easily be replaced, not abandoned. In my example, trains are sufficient to get to most cities with comparable speed. With enough funding for public transport - which isn't even that much compared to maintaining roads and bridges - you could remove 95+% of cars.
Yet even here public transport is too unreliable too little service (note that I didn't mention buses) and apparently people will use cars as long as there is a minor time benefit.
To illustrate my point: even though the bus service is mediocre regardless of where you live in my town, you are within one mile of everything you'd need on the daily basis (supermarket, pharmacy, bank...). However, there is a roughly 50 : 1 difference in parking spaces to bicycle racks because for some reason you either walk or drive a car.
Even in New York, that bus is either a completely miserable experience, require strict departure times, and might make your commute a lot longer.
I can't imagine how awful they are in other places.
New York isn't a bastion of excellent public transport. Other places do it better and buses can be good.
Who does it better?
Most cities in Europe & Asia. I live in Zurich and the buses are pretty much just as good as the trains and trams (which are top notch).
Bussing during rush hour sucks no matter what city it is. I'd rather bike, or if I could, I'd drive.
Well actually.. driving during rush hour also sucks so I'm not sure between the two. During non-peak hours it's not bad, kind of expensive though.
Where is over here? I think that might be important to establish.
Southern Germany. You can see a public transportation map here. Red is buses, orange is trains, green is trams.