3 ms·
Ideally, cities should be structured so that automobiles are used on special occasions, not for day-to-day transportation. I have the good fortune of living in
by techiferous 17y ago
Ideally, cities should be structured so that automobiles are used on special occasions, not for day-to-day transportation. I have the good fortune of living in Cambridge, MA where I can be car-free.
- _delirium 17y agoIt's tricky to do, though, and I think in the US, only NYC has really come close. Even in Cambridge and Boston, most people still drive, partly because the transit takes a really long time from many parts of the city. And in San Francisco, an absolutely tiny city geographically (about 6 miles across), it's not much faster to take Muni than to walk at a brisk pace (Muni averages 8 mph).
- jules 17y agoMetros (e.g. Paris) & bikes (e.g. most cities in the Netherlands) seem to work very well. Bikes are 5 times faster than walking, 2/3 as fast as a car and metros are even faster (but you have the problem of getting to the metro station).
- techiferous 17y agoYes, it is tricky to do. The way I pulled it off is that when I moved to Boston, I ditched my car. That way, the places I started going to were all T-accessible. If you already live in Boston you probably have places you go that aren't served well by the T. It ended up working out fabulously for me, and I wish other Americans eventually have the car-free opportunity that I do.
- amalcon 17y agoGreater Boston is kind of a special case, because although public transportation is terrible, the historical preservation groups have a lot of pull. Historical preservation groups don't like parking lots anyway.
- ars 17y agoPeople who say that usually have no kids.
- lsb 17y agoTo be fair, kids grew up just fine without cars for almost all of recorded history.
- ars 17y agoThey had wagons. And no downtown. People didn't travel much. When they did, single men used a horse, and families used a wagon.
- enf 17y agoThey didn't have wagons. Only businesses that needed to haul things, or the very rich, could afford the space and money to keep animals in cities. Everyone else just lived in places that were compact enough that it was practical to walk everywhere.
- techiferous 17y agoFor the record, I have no kids.