So, I don’t know if you know this or not, but a majority of people want their cars. Nobody is forcing their use. Roads exist because people want their cars, and they want to be able to get places in those cars.
This exactly. Do I want a car in the US’ current car-centric hell where taking a bus across town could take two hours? Yeah, absolutely. Would I want one in a US with robust public transit and micromobility infrastructure? Almost certainly not. It’s a constant financial drain and huge pain in the ass at every turn.
When people say we need to get rid of cars, we mean that we need to 1) build up viable alternatives to cars and in conjunction 2) stop letting the interests of cars dominate everything else. Car drivers in the US are actively given enormous privilege over every other mode of transportation. Businesses need to meet ridiculous parking minimums to ensure you can drop your giant metal box anywhere, anytime and for free, dramatically reducing walkability; speed limits are basically never enforced, speeding up car commutes but dramatically increasing the danger for those who elect for micromobility; ungodly amounts of transportation funds get funneled into unsustainable road projects while public transit starves; car companies are deliberatelly allowed to skirt environmental regulations by selling even less environmentally friendly trucks and SUVs; and basic traffic calming measures are given ridiculous thresholds like “Have X number of people died here yet?”
If you start taking away the insane privileges that are afforded to and often even mandated for cars, you make way for other means of transportation to grow and become the optimal choice for most people. Some people will still use cars because they need to or want to, but even those people will use them less frequently.
I want my car, and I want 100 others. I just can’t afford all the cars I want. Most of the people I know also want more cars or sportier, more expensive cars.
They want to get places in those cars. Why do you think everyone “goes to work”? They go to work, because … they’re providing a service for people who are…
dun dun dun…
Driving cars to the places they want to get to, for commerce. This shit isn’t mandated. You don’t HAVE to own a car. Everyone WANTS to own cars.
This shit isn’t mandated. You don’t HAVE to own a car. Everyone WANTS to own cars.
Terminal case of carbrain. I feel like I just stepped into a 1960s Ford Motors propaganda film reading this comment. Like I’m reading the perspective of someone who’s never set foot in a city with functional public transit/micromobility infrastructure and walkability in their life, or if they have, they tried to shoehorn their obnoxious 2019 Child Crusher AWD SUV into it and either completely missed out or actively blamed the objectively safer, more efficient, more pleasant infrastructure for impeding on their ability to go vroom vroom.
As a mid-westerner, cars and driving is in my culture and DNA. For many of us, cars are our freedom machines, the only way to move on in life, the only way to get anywhere. I love to drive and I can drive almost anything. What I don’t like, is having to drive to survive, having to constantly be in a hurry.
Same, I really enjoy driving in rural areas across long distances with low traffic. I hate driving in cities.
Any time I go to a city with a decent subway/metro/light rail line that is my first choice if possible. Or walk, since a lot of city downtowns are very walkable, especially compared to rural areas and spread out midwestern towns woth barely any shade trees.
So, I don’t know if you know this or not, but a majority of people want their cars. Nobody is forcing their use. Roads exist because people want their cars, and they want to be able to get places in those cars.
I want my car the same way I want to go to work tomorrow.
This exactly. Do I want a car in the US’ current car-centric hell where taking a bus across town could take two hours? Yeah, absolutely. Would I want one in a US with robust public transit and micromobility infrastructure? Almost certainly not. It’s a constant financial drain and huge pain in the ass at every turn.
When people say we need to get rid of cars, we mean that we need to 1) build up viable alternatives to cars and in conjunction 2) stop letting the interests of cars dominate everything else. Car drivers in the US are actively given enormous privilege over every other mode of transportation. Businesses need to meet ridiculous parking minimums to ensure you can drop your giant metal box anywhere, anytime and for free, dramatically reducing walkability; speed limits are basically never enforced, speeding up car commutes but dramatically increasing the danger for those who elect for micromobility; ungodly amounts of transportation funds get funneled into unsustainable road projects while public transit starves; car companies are deliberatelly allowed to skirt environmental regulations by selling even less environmentally friendly trucks and SUVs; and basic traffic calming measures are given ridiculous thresholds like “Have X number of people died here yet?”
If you start taking away the insane privileges that are afforded to and often even mandated for cars, you make way for other means of transportation to grow and become the optimal choice for most people. Some people will still use cars because they need to or want to, but even those people will use them less frequently.
I want my car, and I want 100 others. I just can’t afford all the cars I want. Most of the people I know also want more cars or sportier, more expensive cars.
Do they want to get to places on those cars, or do they want to get to places and cars are the only (or only practical) way?
They want to get places in those cars. Why do you think everyone “goes to work”? They go to work, because … they’re providing a service for people who are…
dun dun dun…
Driving cars to the places they want to get to, for commerce. This shit isn’t mandated. You don’t HAVE to own a car. Everyone WANTS to own cars.
Terminal case of carbrain. I feel like I just stepped into a 1960s Ford Motors propaganda film reading this comment. Like I’m reading the perspective of someone who’s never set foot in a city with functional public transit/micromobility infrastructure and walkability in their life, or if they have, they tried to shoehorn their obnoxious 2019 Child Crusher AWD SUV into it and either completely missed out or actively blamed the objectively safer, more efficient, more pleasant infrastructure for impeding on their ability to go vroom vroom.
You’re out of touch with reality. Go talk to a normal person sometime. Like, face to face. Not in your internet echo-chamber.
As a mid-westerner, cars and driving is in my culture and DNA. For many of us, cars are our freedom machines, the only way to move on in life, the only way to get anywhere. I love to drive and I can drive almost anything. What I don’t like, is having to drive to survive, having to constantly be in a hurry.
Same, I really enjoy driving in rural areas across long distances with low traffic. I hate driving in cities.
Any time I go to a city with a decent subway/metro/light rail line that is my first choice if possible. Or walk, since a lot of city downtowns are very walkable, especially compared to rural areas and spread out midwestern towns woth barely any shade trees.