this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024
200 points (95.9% liked)

Fuck Cars

9636 readers
504 users here now

A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

Rules

1. Be CivilYou may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.

2. No hate speechDon't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.

3. Don't harass peopleDon't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.

4. Stay on topicThis community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.

5. No repostsDo not repost content that has already been posted in this community.

Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.

Posting Guidelines

In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:

Recommended communities:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
200
American society wasn't always so car-centric. Our future doesn't have to be (yaleclimateconnections.org)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://derp.foo/post/635208

There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.

top 8 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (2 children)

To quote one of the commenters in the HN discussion:

You will have to solve the epidemic of homelessness and crime in high-density areas of the United States before people will accept using mass transit. I fully support doing so - I would for example support a national project to build cheap concrete housing for all who need it - but that's the barrier.

I've straight up had people tell me that even if Public Transportation were convenient and consistent, they still wouldn't take it because Public Transportation is famous for being pretty dirty and having large potential for crime.

I'd like to have some sort of quick, easy solution, but I think changing that perception is going to take time, and the time the US is taking to revitalize Public Transportation isn't making that happen any faster.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So New York doesn’t have homeless people, drugs, and crime? Or is NYC not a high-density area? Or why are there 8 million trips daily?

but that's the barrier

No, it is not the barrier. It is one possible barrier, and if you want to remove all possible barriers before you start, guess what, you’ll never start.

“We need to have higher density! But we can’t have that because of parking minimums! But we can’t get rid of parking minimums because we have no public transport! But we can’t have public transport without higher density!” 🥳

they still wouldn't take it because

Those people will always find a reason. Now it’s to dirty and unsafe. Now it’s too expensive. Now I relocated and the train doesn’t stop here.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Have you ever tried to drive around NYC? You can't. Too much traffic. Why do you think taxi cabs are so popular there if everyone wants to take the subway or a bus.

Passenger safety is a real barrier.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

In my experience, people use taxis in NYC mostly because they are overwhelmed by transit. They find it easier to get a personal ride directly to their destination. I can read a sign and a map, and usually find it faster and more freeing to walk or take a train (then again, I have limited familiarity outside Manhattan and was disappointed by options in Staten Island and Long Island)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Taxis are popular because there’s too much traffic. Yeah, okay…

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I'll just repeat myself, Why do you think NY taxi cabs are so popular there if everyone wants to take the subway or a bus?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Familiarity is the only solution. People who don’t use transit only know what they see in the news, or video entertainment.

The key is to start with commuter transit. I have been on sketchy bus and subway rides but know that’s just like anything else in life. However commuting transit tends to be more “people like me”, going to “good places”, better maintained, not “those places” or “those people” or the graffiti covered dark and sketchy cattle car they see on TV. Once someone becomes familiar with it and sees that they haven’t been killed yet, hopefully they’ll realize their fears were manipulated and misplaced.

This is related to one of my concerns over work from home. While I do prefer it ….. it seems like this is the first point in my life where both transit and intercity rail are getting some love, but it’s a tougher sell if everyone is working from home and no longer goes to downtown areas. We have a generation that seems more open to non-car transportation but need to ensure better options. Cities are too vital to lose, transit/walkability is key to their success and we can’t afford to stop investing

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

Doesn't have to be, but most likely will. I live somewhere where it's very walkable and public transport is top notch, but often talk to people who wish to have cuties more like americans, with 4 lanes and parking spots the size of a small town.