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this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023
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People don't want to change the status quo or inconvenience themselves slightly in any way for the greater good. People want a magic drop in replacement that magically "fixes/solves" the environmental crisis and allows life to continue on as is. (So they don't have to take "yucky" public transit)
What really needs to be known though is life has to somewhat drastically change so we can make the world a healthier place for generations to come in the future.
You're being downvoted because you're right. I've had people argue that EVs still aren't a good alternative because they may require a bit more effort every once in a while. Like, charging for 30 minutes at a charger on a long road trip vs just gassing up. Other than that they are pretty much a drop in alternative and people still balk at them.
Then trying to get them to use public transit instead? Doesn't even matter if it's more convenient, they're stuck in their ways and will refuse to change ever.
Get out of your ruts people. Just because "this is the way things are" doesn't mean it's the best way. Ffs the amount of midwesterners who come to my city to visit and think we're being "unsafe" by using the train, just get out of your mindsets.
But thinking critically is hard and I'm lazy!
What's kinda funny is we already have a mode of public transit almost everybody, even those who drive everywhere, use: elevators. Buses, trains, etc. are only seen as "yucky" because most people (at least in America) don't use them and refuse to spend their tax dollars on them, leaving them to be used primarily by the poor and desperate. But when you have public transit that is used by everybody, like elevators, you find they're well-funded and well-kept, and absolutely no one will bat an eye about having to use it.
It really boils down to 2 things. First is the obvious comfort, they think it's more comfortable to be in a car. But that is broken down with traffic. You bring up traffic and they'll complain for hours about it.
Second is fear. They won't admit it but they're just terrified because they just hear of the big bad city and think stepping on a train is a one way ticket to getting stabbed, while never having any real knowledge of what it's like.
Commuted for a decade - never got stabbed, but got mugged a number of times. My parents told me repeatedly how fantastic catching the tram, train, bus etc. was - they loved catching it in on a Sunday at 11am and leaving around 2pm. They never did the 8am rush hour crunch or 6pm post-school commute. Public transport can be as fancy as you like, but if you need to travel via a rough area and the transport lacks security...
Well either you could move to a different location if you want to, convince your community and local politicians to build better infrastructure, or realize that you are a minority, an edge case that usually is not adressed in these talks because a few people in remote locations using a car doesn't hurt if we could get rid of car dependency in densely populated areas where the vast majority of humans live.
Vote to allow more dense, mixed-use, transit-oriented development as well as more and better public transit. In many cases there's a chicken-and-egg problem of NIMBYs blocking new, denser development because of fears of bringing too much traffic, but the public transit that would allay those fears isn't built because there's not enough density.
And so what happens is places get stuck in a trap of perpetual car-dependence, which is bad for the environment, bad for the economy, and bad for social equality (cars are super expensive and thus a particular burden on lower income folks, and many people with disabilities simply can't drive).
The only way to break the cycle is for people to recognize what's happening and intentionally vote their way out of it.
"Vote to allow more dense, mixed-use, transit-oriented development as well as more and better public transit."
But I don't want that. My neighborhood is great, and I don't want to turn it into my local small city or my local big city. Plus, what you're describing is very expensive, and taxes are already high.
On bike those distance are fine. Ebikes exist also. Either way I'd rather life and society adjusted itself to a slower commute than the danger and depression of car based transportation infrastructure. I used to ride my hike one hour to get groceries and an hour back. Those who are disabled can ride the bus and train. A lot of changes need to be made. Infrastructure and people need to change. I'd rather have a car free safe road for walking and riding my bike. We will all live longer to just from exercise and safer travel in general.
I'm convinced a lot of the fuck car people are people in their 20s with no kids who live in the city where they can heavily rely on good public transport and not have a need to travel too far.
I totally get the sentiment but it's just not practical for a lot of us. To get people away from cars the local authority would need to practically fill the roads with small extremely regular buses that go all over the place. You'd never wait more than a couple of minutes outside your house for a bus to arrive to go somewhere.
Yeah, society, as it is now, is designed around cars. That's kind of the entire point of the fuck cars idea. We shouldn't have built our society with the assumption that everyone should need a car, and we should start transitioning towards something more efficient and sustainable.
Try arguing that people should bring their own bags to the grocery store. Responses get hilarious quickly.
In some cities, e.g. Vienna, public transport already beats cars. For playing your own music I have some mid/low-range noise cancelling and can watch movies