Fuck Cars
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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And that should not be acceptable. Every one should be able to commute by public transport. A car dependent situation is not immutable and should not be treated as such. You'r looking at the problems the wrong way. instead of asking what the best car is for a specific reality, we should be asking ourselves how to change that reality sot it's not car dependent anymore.
Why not both? No one is going to put their lives on hold until public transit becomes available. Until that happens, you choose the least harmful option.
As for having public transit available for everyone, how would that work in very sparsely populated areas? Wouldn't you just be wasting a ton of resources driving around a vehicle with no one in it?
I agree with the first statement. The answer for the least harfull option is easy though : if you currently are dependent on cars (a lot of people think they are but really aren't, they are just lazy), get the smallest, most reliable second hand car you can find. Buying any thing new is just feedind the capitalist beast that the car industry is. If you choose to live in such a remote place that any form of public transportation would be "wasting a ton of resources driving around a vehicle with no one in it" then you are on you own.
What about people who live in such areas because there are jobs there that need doing?
Or people who live outside the US, in areas that aren't flat and open?
If you are somewhere for work then you're probably not on your own and your employer could offer some form of common transportation so you don't rely on your own car (and foundings) to get your task done.
Ok, for one example, what would a park ranger do? (Not just USA rangers, this is a global job role.)
You will aways find exceptions (like emergency and medical sercices, transporting people who cannot walk or bike, transporting goods ...) that's why I said "most of the time". A park ranger (edit : I meant " could use") use a car for her/his duties and go back home to her/his personal business with public transport. Most situations could be handled without a car, and the few left could be handled with much smaller vehicles (and should be looked at to minimize the use of car to a maximum. I'm sure a ranger could do some of her/his job riding a dirtbike)
Exactly. This is a response to your claim that we should not be comparing cars at all because no one should be driving at all, implying that there are no exceptions.
I was actually responding to a specific strand of your argument; anyway:
All those park rangers who commute out of the the nearest big city every day?
I’m no longer convinced that you’re arguing in good faith but even if you are I think we’re done here. Especially if you are in fact.
Um. Have you ever been to rural areas? Like no snark intended, but unless you plan on forcing people to live in denser populated areas, public transit just won’t work in remote areas.
At least not until flying cars become the norm.
I’d be willing to listen to your plan on getting public transit an hours drive into rural areas.
In short: rural transit hubs. People drive to those instead of direct to destinations.
My parents grew up in rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Until the proliferation of personal automobiles (closer to 70s/80s in this region), each town had "enough stuff" in the general store to survive, and busses looped the highways. Mines and mills would employ vans to pick up their worker and reduce commutes. People with trucks would pick up things for others on their return trips from deliveries.
People lived in rural areas for millennia before cars arrived. They absolutely make life their easier, don't get me wrong; but are not a survival necessity. Also, having a car should be a tool to get to a transit link, not the whole journey. In North America, towns were founded on trains and rails, not cars.
For example, my in laws live on a farming island. Right now they drive to the ferry, take the ferry, then drive to every destination in the city. In tourist season they leave a car on the island and the mainland due to high ferry loads. A better solution would be driving to the outskirts of town to transfer to public transit; the best solution would be public transit serving the ferry. Public transit wouldn't work on the island, but there is already a natural collection point.
The neighbouring island's ferry connects to downtown, this increases the number of non-drivers; with most vehicles taking the transit focused on deliveries, tourism, and island residents who's employment is not easily accessible by public transit.
Anyways, my plan is regional hubs for public transit. If people still live to far from a station, at least they can drive to a town hub instead of a city. Swiss towns in the neighborhood of 5,000 have public transit and rail access.
most of us could even cycle or walk to thoses hubs
Especially with ebikes now a thing. Or even gold carts for those with mobility challenges