this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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Well, some people do... but those people are out of touch with reality.
I have one word for those people:
Ambulance.
I don't want to get rid of cars as a technology, just privately owned passenger cars.
I'm glad you said it this time. My fingers are starting to get tired from harping on them all the time.
And I will fight you before you confiscate my last motorcycle.
It’s a bit wild.
Public and mass transportation is a good thing that is not prioritized enough in a lot of areas. However, covering 100.00% of the population for 100.00% of their needs is infeasible regardless of whatever economic model is used.
This is why cars will always exist.
My completely unfounded hypothesis is that a lot of these guys are just all sour grapes because they are in a position wherein they can't afford a car (or a motorcycle, or whatever). So they think everyone else should be miserable like them, too.
The environmental aspects I get, but I also get the feeling that's actually just a post-hoc rationalization to the whole no-personal-transportation sect.
I think it’s just folks being naive and needing to expand their world view by meeting more people IRL.
A lot of people just can’t afford buying decent sized places in more densely populated areas. Telling these people to suck it up and deal with a 1/2BR condo will be extremely uncomfortable for a family of 4. And why deal with that when there’s places with more space a bit away? I don’t think anyone’s kids are ever going to say “hey dad, thanks for cramming us in a condo so we never had to drive”. It's not like the person can go back in time to petition a planning department to be more forward thinking either.
Cookie-cutter suburbia, endless highways, and sparse development have definitely not been the correct answer either, but this problem isn't solved overnight. A person with 40 years left on their clock and with kids isn’t realistically going to put their life on hold until they successfully picket the local government for transit projects and wait 15 years (at least, in the US) before it's operational.
The most pragmatic way to go about this is advocate for transit and more intelligent planning, then replace what usage you can with transit when feasible. Folks screaming into the void online, demanding people walk 3 miles to the grocery store each week is a waste of keyboard clicks.
But heck, I'm within biking distance of using the 3rd? largest transit network in the US. It takes literally 1/3rd-1/4th of the time to drive for some trips. I'm not riding a train for 1.5 hours when I can drive up, do what I need, then drive back by time biking+train+transfers would take going one-way. For a number of other trips? Sure. Where transit takes less time and/or would be much more convenient than driving it'll be strongly considered.
Unfortunately, I just don’t have the same levels of free time to raise this up as often as it should be pointed out.
I had three cars and a motorcycle at one point, though now I'm down to one car and a bicycle. But whatever makes you feel superior, I guess. Fuck the people with legitimate ideas to improve life and the environment.
Certainly with the reality of suburban life in the US.
Reality is what we make it. Fuck cars
Nah they're great. And they're not going away, thankfully.