cross-posted from: https://kbin.melroy.org/m/upliftingnews@lemmy.world/t/1372827
We find that nearly one fifth of urban and suburban US car owners express a definite interest in living car-free (18 %), and an additional 40 % are open to the idea. This is in addition to the small share (10 %) of urban and suburban US residents currently living without a car.
Finally moved out of the small town into a big suburb and we have a functional transit system and god it’s the best. It’s not world class or anything close but it’s FUNCTIONAL. I can get everywhere I need in good enough time. It’s so good. I bring my ereader with me so even when I do unfortunately get stuck waiting half an hour for the next bus (which isn’t too common), it just means more reading time. I’m working through One Piece, so I don’t mind waiting around and reading lol. Taking children on the bus is also so much better than dealing with goddamn carseats.
Car free is pretty great. Was out until 3am for new years eve. Took the train home. Waited about 5 minutes on the platform for it.
Other passengers in the train car? A disgustingly cute couple in their early 20s sharing headphones. A late 20s lady playing phone games. A mid 30s lady who was falling down drunk and her man, eating pizza, helping her stay awake.
That last couple especially benefitted from taking the train. They were in no shape to drive.
It’s not like it needs an extreme implementation. Just start with transport hubs dotted around the outskirts of the city so you can drive to one and then get a tram in.
I don’t have a car nor do I plan to have one, ever.
At the same time I do enjoy speed. I also enjoy the aesthetics of speed. I also appreciate the philosophy of freedom and discovery.
… those though are NOT the properties that most people can enjoy on their daily commute. When you take side by the side the values promoted in a car advertisement (those listed above) versus what people actually live (stuck in traffic daily, bumper to bumper, in a very well defined path where everybody else also is, at the very same time) it’s actually ironically enough diametrically opposed.
So whether you genuinely enjoys cars or not be honest about your actual daily experience then adjust appropriately.
I don’t know how everyone was convinced cars mean freedom. In my opinion, they’re nothing but obligation, time, and money. I hated it. They’re so needy! I hate maintaining shit. I don’t have to maintain the bus! That’s someone else’s job!
Every fucking car advert is some giant SUV coasting around mountain passes and on vacant beaches, or some CGI city with no traffic lights. People are not being sold the idea of traffic and decimated urban landscape, yet that is what they get for their dreams of speed.
Ironically people who actually want that experience should be the loudest advocates for practical mass transit alternatives to driving… so less people clog up roads.
I’m totally open to a car-free world, and I love driving.
Let me live in a place that’s at least slightly better than where I’m currently at and put me within walking distance to all I need (including work that pays at least as good if not better, and has the same stress level or lower) or public transportation that is either reliable or I’m guaranteed to not be penalised if I’m late because of it… and I’m down.
Unfortunately most people do not live in that world. But hey, I’m all for it in theory!
Unfortunately most people do not live in that world. But hey, I’m all for it in theory!
You probably mean “most US Americans”. I am German, am in my fifties and never had a car and yet can arrange my life that I can do what I want - for example, cycle to work. And in French, Netherlands, Danish or many East European cities quality of urban life is even better than in Germany.
Fact is, life in the US is actually not that free.
Unfortunately most people do not live in that world.
Not to pick on your words, but there’s nothing unfortunate about it. Where (I presume) you live, it is mandated by legislation that people must be car dependent. So, it’s not bad luck, it’s terrible representatives.
I bought my car when I lived in the country and rarely use it here in the city. Errands feel a lot quainter and less stressful when I walk and going downtown on the train feels positively dreamy compared to the stresses of car travel (traffic, police, parking, breakins).
