don't discourage people from owning personal cars. most of the time this mentality is just a tax on the poor.

Flip the idea. Encourage people to not use cars instead.

• not just bike lanes, but bike storage & lockers
• not just public transport, but better connections between transport modes (buses with bike carriers, train stations with better car parking and bike lockers and bus connections)
• more small car parking bays with all large truck bays further away from the stores
• more motorcycle parking bays
• cheaper motorcycle registration, etc.

it's all about spending money and effort in the areas you want it. Not about being restrictive.

it's a slower method of conversion, but more effective.

Ultimately, we need alternatives, people will take alternatives if they are faster and affordable. We need a rich public transit system.

I’m firmly on the side of it being unreasonable to discourage driving until there is a reasonable alternative.

• There are a handful of us cities where there is enough of an alternative and they already make it expensive to have a car and getting more expensive all the time (see NYC proposed congestion fees, Boston record prices for a parking spot, Cambridge street restrictions)
• even then, there should be a better way to support people who think they need a car but don’t use it everyday. It shouldn’t need to be in everyone’s way

However for most of the US, that’s just alienating people who would be on our side if there was a choice

In Japan, car owners are responsible for ensuring they have somewhere to park. Municipalities don’t provide free on-street car storage, or even much in the way of paid parking, so if you really want a car, you’ll need to sacrifice some space to store it, or make other private arrangements at your own expense. You’ll need proof of this when you buy a car.

Singapore goes one step further, with car owners needing to purchase a licence for keeping a car (which is separate from a driver’s license). This costs about as much as the car itself. Though by some accounts, this has made having even a mediocre car into a status symbol.

Public transportation should be provided for the public by the public. Quit wasting time with ticket booths and all that shit. Just free transportation. We aren’t charged per use for roads so people drive. Make public transport free so transportation is equally accessible by all social classes.

Even with cheap fares now, moving a family is still more expensive by bus than vehicle. I don’t drive for my sake. I drive for the others that need me to drive for them.

When a drivers license is taken or suspended, especially for speeding in cities, give an easy option to directly... lease(?)^1^ an e-bike. And then suspend licenses for a lot more of the dangerous behaviors we currently just accept.

A relative got her license suspended for a month for speeding, and then simply did not go anywhere. Having an exciting new mode of transport might have just been what she needed, the supermarket is just 2km away.

1: The state can hammer out the details, obviously we don't want to gift them it or it becomes a reward for speeding, and selling them it means they could just resell it afterwards when the goal is that they keep and use it. Maybe like a 5 year ban on reselling it, only one per household. Also, probably keep the model generic and discreet so no shame is cast when just trying to buy groceries.

By making it a poor choice, which you do by providing a better alternative that is cheaper.

Spend trillions on infrastructure.

For me the only answer is good, fast, cheap public transit.

Gosh I took the railroad from Long Island, NY into NYC and back. Each way was about 40 min but the total cost was like $19 per person! If I was going with 3/4 friends, it could literally be cheaper and about as fast to drive into the city and pay for parking. It needs to be more subsidized.

Not much you can do without them reacting the opposing way.

One solution is for example 15 minute cities. I've never felt like I wanted a car living in Montréal because it's literally faster and more convenient to just walk there. I rarely even needed to use the metro. Genuinely healthier way of life.

And then the F350 owners all go that's just the first step, they won't allow you to go outside of your city, blah blah blah.

The thing is it's been drilled into so many people's heads that a car is essential that everything that deviates from driving your car wherever you go is seen as a direct attack on personal freedoms, your right to go wherever you want and all that.

People also seem to rely a lot on their cars as a status symbol. Look, I'm broke AF but I got a brand new giant boat of an SUV... to go work in an office on a computer everyday. So many trucks have perfect mint condition never used truck beds. But you gotta have a truck to show you're a hard working manly man.

There's nothing you can do to change those people. They'll make a F950 and run it coal just to spite you. We'll be stuck with the status quo as long as egocentric people exist. Because you can't inconvenience them for the sake of others, they don't give a shit about anyone but themselves.

Good public transportation, good bike roads, a train system that works well.

If people are fully exposed to the real cost of car ownership they will happily choose alternatives. This means no free parking or mandatory minimums, no subsidies, tolls everywhere, and carbon taxes on fuel. Even after all of that some people will still decide that driving is their best option and that's ok.

This is why a culture war is forming between bikers and drivers.

It's not just reallocation of resources, you are actively plotting to disrupt a means of income, safety, or accessibility for the majority.

Biking and public transit are very valid modes of transportation and for some journeys, practical. News flash, I use them too. The same goes for vehicles.

What isn't necessary for you, may be for someone else. That's a fact lots of folks here don't want to acknowledge.

So to answer your question, make something better, faster, cheaper than cars and people will come. But if your recipe for success is making a working system suck bad enough public transport looks good, everybody loses.

I don't have a massive truck and my 20yo Honda is no status symbol, but I love the act of driving and the skills I've developed over my lifetime. It's freeing, relaxing, and I find a meditative quality and peace when I drive in the mountains. You want to take that away. Now imagine if bikes were taxed and licensed... Not so fun now.

We have to work together in a community. I'm tired of fractions picking fights.

You want to discourage people from buying cars? Then don't buy one. Be the example you seek. But for heavens sake, don't be a jerk to others.