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Someone was asking me what my dream car would be. I don't want a car. No no but if you had unlimited money what car would you buy? I wouldn't. No it doesn't cost you anything, you can have it for free! Yeah, I just don't want one.
If I HAD to choose a car and it could be anything... I would want an electric RV that's covered in solar panels. I don't care if I could only move it 10 miles a day, I would nomad my ass around just living the dream.
The irony being that you need unlimited money to be able to afford to live somewhere with proper public transportation, currently.
Fortunately I don't need that either. I live in a town in the UK and work remotely. I can buy everything I need by cycling to the shop and on the rare occasion I do need to go into the office (few times a year) I can cycle to the train station in a nearby town and then take the train to the city our office is in. A 2 hour commute isn't really an issue when its only a few times a year.
I live on an island town and we have busses every 15-30 minutes 👉👉
Reading through these comments I'm realizing a lot of the people who are advocating for cars, because they offer greater flexibility and autonomy, aren't taking one critical thing into consideration: cars are useless without roads, and other necessary car infrastructure. You can't use a car to get from your home to your work without someone first paving a road between them. So, if we're going to have to build and maintain transportation infrastructure regardless, why not build infrastructure that will facilitate moving as many people from one place to another as efficiently as possible?
Bikes/buses use roads. won't get train station to your house.
Yes, but bikes don't need as much infrastructure, because bikes are typically used for shorter trips, and they are much smaller and lighter. Buses transport many more people than passenger cars, so they can transport more people using the same, or less, infrastructure.
I don't expect every house to have its own train stop, I expect people to live much more closely together. Cars really are a necessity when everyone is very spread out, but, again, the more spread out everyone is, the more infrastructure must be built and maintained. You think it would be ridiculous for every house to have its own train stop, but you don't think it's ridiculous for every house to have a road built to connect it to everything else, regardless of where that house is. The truth is, neither is cost effective or efficient.
It would be great to see this happen.
But I’m in the US, and in a low density suburb that’s borderline rural. I expect to be driving or using the car equivalent (robo taxies/buses that are actually good?) for the rest of my life. But I’ve set myself up to need to drive much less, which makes the driving itself more enjoyable.
Unfucking transportation is just so far down the list of things that this place needs to unfuck. Given recent history, I’ll be surprised if widespread modern efficient public transit even gets serious mainstream political discussion in my lifetime.
I don't own or want a car. My housemate drives me to work. It's a 7 minute drive, 50 minutes by public transport. You need to put on 10 minute buses on multiple routes through every suburb 24hrs to make public transport a viable option for most people.
The problem with transit is more about how cities are designed, zoned, and built. If we built cities for people instead of cars the vast majority of people in a city would likely have faster commutes on transit than driving a private vehicle.
Other things can help with this as well such as transit signal priority.
It's a 7 minute drive, i practically live in the same suburb. I also work evening shift. Are you going to put on a bus to everywhere for those 250 people who finish work at 230am? Must all of us work and live next door? I try to live as close as possible but you cant ask everyone to do that. A job change shouldnt mean you are required to move house. Its just not feasible for a city of millions to move every time they change jobs. And its not feasible to put on a bus service so me and a couple of others can get home at 230am.
You're right, it isn't feasible to always use a bus, thats why walking, cycling, trams, and light rail should also be used. The biggest problem is density. Low density makes it very difficult to effeciently service, yet many north american zoning and building codes make it very difficult to build any housing that isn't detached single family homes with minimum parking standards and set backs.
walking, cycling, trams, and light rail
Ableism much? These options don’t suit a bunch of people.
Many trams and light rail are accessible for various disabilities.
Cars are also restrictive to people with certain disabilities. The fairest way is having a wide variety of options available, including specialized cars for those who need them. Currently, the car is pretty much the only option in many north american cities, which certainly isn't the fairest.
Sounds like a good bicycle ride away.
Im a woman and i finish work at 230am. Im not going to expose myself to the risk of riding a bike home. If i worked day shift that would be ok but its just not safe for me to bike home at that hour.
Risk of what? Getting run over? It's actually better since 2:30 AM = less traffic. Getting assaulted and/or abducted? Good luck for would-be criminals catching up with you on foot. Even if they're in a car, they usually have to get out of it in order to do their stuff and that limits them to running speed.
You're an idiot. Criminals see patterns and take advantage. If i walk through the same streets and park every night and they see me every night they can easily predict my behaviour and take advantage. I have a decent paying job, plenty of money and a vagina. I am at risk. Grow the fuck up.
Everyone should be able to own a car, and be able to afford keeping it in a garage for rare situations where it makes sense to use one.
This is a winning narrative.
In a properly dense, walkable city, there is literally not enough space for everybody to have a parking space, let alone a garage. If you try, e.g. by legislating minimum parking requirements, all you end up doing is ruining the city.
So you're saying it somehow makes more sense for every single person to own a car and a garage and pay all the initial and maintaince upkeep, and insurance costs than just use a taxi or uber a handful of times a year?
If someone can get by for the vast majority of their needs without a car, they don't need to own a car. We have taxis, rideshare, and car rentals that can fill in the gaps they can't make with walking or transit. Those options are far cheaper than owning if they don't use the car often.
I haven't even touched on how car dependancy destroys affordability, city budgets, and the environment. I really don't see how everyone owning a car is more of a winning narrative than everyone having access to effecient transit.
this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2025
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Fuck Cars
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