In a sense that there needs to be a way to show that the status quo of only maintaining/expanding car infrastructure and providing nothing else as viable alternative is a dead one. Ridiculous insurance increases is part of that.
Fixed route and Accessible buses are possible even in smaller cities like Missoula, MT, population 70k, which provides fare-free transit service to its residents. In bigger cities, mass transit, urban and interurban rail needs to be explored and expanded today, else these problems will only get worse with no end in sight.
Cagers are not being punished. They’re still not paying the actual cost of car dependency. They’re still being subsidized by non-drivers who are actually continuing to be punished.
In my city, if I want to arrive at my office at 8AM, I need to leave my apartment by car at 7:45. If I want to be within a block or so of my office by that same time, I need to leave my apartment at 6:15 to find a bus stop and ride on three different buses. Getting home by bus after ending my shift at 5:30 (I work 9 hour shifts and get every other Friday off), I would get home about 7:15.
Consider that I’m paid roughly $35 an hour pre-tax. If I do this every day for a month, the time this costs me would be equivalent to more than a two week paycheck.
I’m not afraid of someone doing something to me, I’m more concerned with whatever illness they may have. People are gross, I like my space. You do you and ride a packed a buss full of people with some no doubt sick, and some with terrible hygiene that stink. I’ll ride in my luxurious and fast car enjoying my heat and a/c with my heated/ac seats and great sound system.
Car manufacturers have lobbied to make America only accessible by car. As a consequence, you now have no sensible choice but to drive everywhere. Imagine if gas prices were to double tomorrow. What would you do?
It would take me about 45 minutes one way. It could work, assuming it never rained or snowed (both will absolutely happen here in upstate NY) and my exercise-induced asthma didn’t prevent me physically from doing so. Don’t get me wrong, I love my ebike for quick zips around town, but it’s no replacement for my car at this point. It can’t function in the rain or snow and, even if it could, I don’t want to risk injuring myself by riding on un-shoveled sidewalks or the slurry of death that accumulates on the sides of the road from the snow plows. Plus I have to keep my work laptop dry, and I’d be much less safe against the US’s notoriously brutal cyclist ignorance.
As someone with Excercise-Induced asthma i must ask; Dont you have an emergency inhaler? Also going for walks does gradually build up your endurance, just obviously never overdo it (especially in the winter, you will keel over and simply die).
But, as the future is looking less and less car centric it would be a good idea to start now.
I do, yes, but in every single gym class I’ve been in I would have to stop what I was doing completely and use my inhaler. The school tried having me use it before the exercise, but that did nothing.
I couldn’t do public transit like that. My anxiety wouldn’t let me. The amount of sick people crammed into busses and trains like that. It makes me start to panic. Like in Japan where they force you in an over packed train…I get for many people it’s NBD but I couldn’t do it.
Or your square footage could go down. Or instead of moving closer to your job, you could find a different job closer to your home. Point is, you do have options. They might take compromises, but they’re there.
Could it though? Don’t know if you noticed but the rental market is completely fucked in NA. For most people this would mean renting a room instead of an apartment, which doesn’t work well if you for example, are a family of 4.
find a different job closer
There are no guarantees for this because jobs of people’s industries which pay them the money they need to support themselves and their families are not geographically distributed evenly. If you have years of tenure at your workplace as well, it is a big fucking risk to change jobs unless you have a really, really, good reason to do so as well.
Point is, you might have these options but it doesn’t mean everyone does. People’s lives and options are not so black and white as you seem to think.
The state is huge, you’re right. It’s not just LA and San Francisco. But to anti-car people, there are only five places to live in the US, and if you’re not in NYC, SF, LA, Chicago, or DC, you don’t exist. Walk everywhere, lose your job, become homeless! That’ll get politicians to invest in public transportation!
And there’s that ignorant privilege. No one is coming out to Kern County to build stop lights, let alone a some how functioning public transit system, our best bet would be high speed rail out here, and you can thank one individual billionaire for fucking that up. What are we supposed to do? Use our voting power of a low population county to address billionaire’s fucking us too hard? I drive my neighbors out of town if they need me to, I do what I can, there’s no options, you get access to a car or you die.
I agree with the cost of private cars in the US are detrimentally low. We have insanely subsidized gas, the car owners don’t pay for the cost of the roads (see federal gas tax being laughably low), and the side effect health hazards (noise, plastics dust, crash deaths) are considered normal despite the sheer suffering they cause.
That said, making cars more painful (cost/time) must be coupled with the work of rebuilding our infrastructure to modern standards. This means normal frequency mass transit (8 minute or less intervals), separated bike roads, and pedestrian safety put over car speed.
It can be done (there’s solutions to all of the superficial emotional jabs people seem to throw online), it just takes work to get our cities back from the clutches of the car only thinking we’ve been doing for 60+ years.
It’s always a good day when private cars running costs go up, incentives people to drop it if it’s not absolutely needed
Edit:
Me: cars bad
Americans:
And for those who it’s absolutely needed, just fuck them I guess?
America was bulldozed for the car, and now the bill is coming due.
In a sense that there needs to be a way to show that the status quo of only maintaining/expanding car infrastructure and providing nothing else as viable alternative is a dead one. Ridiculous insurance increases is part of that.
Fixed route and Accessible buses are possible even in smaller cities like Missoula, MT, population 70k, which provides fare-free transit service to its residents. In bigger cities, mass transit, urban and interurban rail needs to be explored and expanded today, else these problems will only get worse with no end in sight.
Sure, but that doesn’t mean that those who have no other choice should be punished.
Cagers are not being punished. They’re still not paying the actual cost of car dependency. They’re still being subsidized by non-drivers who are actually continuing to be punished.
Cagers? How so? Having my own space means I’m a “cager?”
Most of them it’s probably still not needed.
Maybe you haven’t noticed the infrastructure in America. Try doing that some time.
I live in the LA area. By car, 45 minutes to work. By bus, 3 buses and 4 hours one way.
In my city, if I want to arrive at my office at 8AM, I need to leave my apartment by car at 7:45. If I want to be within a block or so of my office by that same time, I need to leave my apartment at 6:15 to find a bus stop and ride on three different buses. Getting home by bus after ending my shift at 5:30 (I work 9 hour shifts and get every other Friday off), I would get home about 7:15.
Consider that I’m paid roughly $35 an hour pre-tax. If I do this every day for a month, the time this costs me would be equivalent to more than a two week paycheck.
Why would I take the bus?
I have zero interest in riding a bus for the same reason and I’ll add that I’d rather not sit in a bus with a bunch of other people. Hard pass.
If you need a personal cage to feel safe, then maybe the problem isn’t the bus.
I’m not afraid of someone doing something to me, I’m more concerned with whatever illness they may have. People are gross, I like my space. You do you and ride a packed a buss full of people with some no doubt sick, and some with terrible hygiene that stink. I’ll ride in my luxurious and fast car enjoying my heat and a/c with my heated/ac seats and great sound system.
Car manufacturers have lobbied to make America only accessible by car. As a consequence, you now have no sensible choice but to drive everywhere. Imagine if gas prices were to double tomorrow. What would you do?
It would still be cheaper to drive.
And with most other things, you wouldn’t just accept it if the price doubled, but with gas, you’d have no choice.
If you have 15min drive to office, that would be ~15-45min with bicycle and save you a good bunch yearly if you want to put it that way
It would take me about 45 minutes one way. It could work, assuming it never rained or snowed (both will absolutely happen here in upstate NY) and my exercise-induced asthma didn’t prevent me physically from doing so. Don’t get me wrong, I love my ebike for quick zips around town, but it’s no replacement for my car at this point. It can’t function in the rain or snow and, even if it could, I don’t want to risk injuring myself by riding on un-shoveled sidewalks or the slurry of death that accumulates on the sides of the road from the snow plows. Plus I have to keep my work laptop dry, and I’d be much less safe against the US’s notoriously brutal cyclist ignorance.
Just breathe better, god how simple do you need it to be? /s
As someone with Excercise-Induced asthma i must ask; Dont you have an emergency inhaler? Also going for walks does gradually build up your endurance, just obviously never overdo it (especially in the winter, you will keel over and simply die).
But, as the future is looking less and less car centric it would be a good idea to start now.
I do, yes, but in every single gym class I’ve been in I would have to stop what I was doing completely and use my inhaler. The school tried having me use it before the exercise, but that did nothing.
I couldn’t do public transit like that. My anxiety wouldn’t let me. The amount of sick people crammed into busses and trains like that. It makes me start to panic. Like in Japan where they force you in an over packed train…I get for many people it’s NBD but I couldn’t do it.
It’s amazing how car dependency is so ingrained that leaving a cage induces agoraphobia, anxiety, and related psychological traumas.
Nah, it’s that people are shitty and gross.
How is it anybody else’s fault that you chose to live stupidly far from your job?
If I moved closer to my work, my rent would increase about $800+
Or your square footage could go down. Or instead of moving closer to your job, you could find a different job closer to your home. Point is, you do have options. They might take compromises, but they’re there.
You’re asking them to compromise food and shelter so the only point you’re making is that you’re an asshole.
I’m in a rent controlled unit. I’m not moving.
Could it though? Don’t know if you noticed but the rental market is completely fucked in NA. For most people this would mean renting a room instead of an apartment, which doesn’t work well if you for example, are a family of 4.
There are no guarantees for this because jobs of people’s industries which pay them the money they need to support themselves and their families are not geographically distributed evenly. If you have years of tenure at your workplace as well, it is a big fucking risk to change jobs unless you have a really, really, good reason to do so as well.
Point is, you might have these options but it doesn’t mean everyone does. People’s lives and options are not so black and white as you seem to think.
Who were they trying to blame?? They are just saying for their situation they need a car to survive.
Unfortunately in CA you are severly harmed by not having a car.
Car brained generalization about a huge and diverse state.
deleted by creator
The state is huge, you’re right. It’s not just LA and San Francisco. But to anti-car people, there are only five places to live in the US, and if you’re not in NYC, SF, LA, Chicago, or DC, you don’t exist. Walk everywhere, lose your job, become homeless! That’ll get politicians to invest in public transportation!
You are severely harmed by not having a car *and being too apathetic and selfish to do anything about it
Sorted that for you
And there’s that ignorant privilege. No one is coming out to Kern County to build stop lights, let alone a some how functioning public transit system, our best bet would be high speed rail out here, and you can thank one individual billionaire for fucking that up. What are we supposed to do? Use our voting power of a low population county to address billionaire’s fucking us too hard? I drive my neighbors out of town if they need me to, I do what I can, there’s no options, you get access to a car or you die.
Wouldn’t be an issue if public transit was made more available first.
I agree with the cost of private cars in the US are detrimentally low. We have insanely subsidized gas, the car owners don’t pay for the cost of the roads (see federal gas tax being laughably low), and the side effect health hazards (noise, plastics dust, crash deaths) are considered normal despite the sheer suffering they cause.
That said, making cars more painful (cost/time) must be coupled with the work of rebuilding our infrastructure to modern standards. This means normal frequency mass transit (8 minute or less intervals), separated bike roads, and pedestrian safety put over car speed.
It can be done (there’s solutions to all of the superficial emotional jabs people seem to throw online), it just takes work to get our cities back from the clutches of the car only thinking we’ve been doing for 60+ years.