The real problem is convincing people there is a problem. I grew up in suburban America and almost everyone got a car when they turned 16. A 15 minute drive was considered not that far away. My bus ride to school was about 45 minutes. I went to college in a large dense city and it opened my eyes to how things could be so much better. Unfortunately most people who live where I grow up would say “you’re going to get shot and die” if you get anywhere near a city.
The level of paranoia that suburbanites have about density is horrendously upsetting and intentional
Trying to tell a suburbanite that crime rates have fallen drastically over time is so damn hard
While I understand that not everyone is educated on these issues, I grew up in the suburbs and I always knew it was fucked, even if I didn’t know what a better system looked like. I really don’t understand how people can see that and think it’s somehow good.
Do they really think suburban and rural areas are different?
At this point we have to commit guerrilla warfare against the oversized, homicidal cars
In europe there was a movement to slash the tires of oversized SUVs. Wish that movement would extend to America
The issue is that in the US your knife would get dull before you get anywhere.
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I’m not convinced that wishing for tramways on every street is a smart move on behalf of all bikers, scooter riders, and others.
Source: my bike commute included streets with tramways.
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I’m All for banning cars. But we need to make sure we don’t catch small business deliveries up in the crossfire. Commercial vehicles are still an absolute necessity without a massive change no one’s figured out how to accomplish yet. I’m thinking mostly in my city. Ban cars, let commercial trucks through.
Just a note that a lot of these would be very negatively impactful on many lower income level people who depend on what transportation they can manage. If there was a fast move to replace the needs with public infrastructure like rail and bus, then maybe the financial hit would be less for them. “Get a job within walking or bike” doesn’t always work out.
This problem is less significant if the transit is free. Even if the transit isn’t free if transit is roughly the same speed as taking a car it would be far cheaper than car ownership.
And it could (and is in many places) be subsidised for low income people too, if free transit isn’t politically viable. And the money raised from some of the other measures like congestion pricing and carbon pricing could partially be returned to low income people as well, with the rest going to further roll out public transit and active transport options.
Replace all roads with free mass transit. That should work.