3 ms·
I think his projections are absurd, but honestly, the man has a dream and a product, so I don't begrudge him his enthusiasm. That said, I live in Philadelphia,
by pmcginn 16y ago
I think his projections are absurd, but honestly, the man has a dream and a product, so I don't begrudge him his enthusiasm.
That said, I live in Philadelphia, and I used to live in NYC. I have a license and have driven in both cities, but I don't own a car now and garaged it with my brother when I was in NYC.
Driving in what most people would consider "downtown" is a pain and brings along expenses and difficulties you don't have in suburbs. Like others have mentioned, cheap parking is hard to find, and easy parking is hard to afford.
But what people who haven't actually lived for long periods of time with out a car tend to ignore is that there are times, even in the densest parts of the city, where having access to a car is almost indescribably convenient. Making multiple trips to the grocery store every week because you can only hold X bags in your hands/on your bike/in your granny cart is a pain. Walking a mile to work (like I do) in the rain because all the cabs are taken is a pain. Biking home from the beer distributor with a 30-rack in your messenger bag can be a pain :)
So I think the real task isn't making cars unnecessary for city life, but making cars easily accessible for the time or two a month they'd be convenient. Thankfully for me, innovators like Philly Carshare and Zipcar are already operating in this space. Even Home Depot will rent you a pretty well equipped work truck by the hour.
I don't see what problem the Segway solves--it's not particularly faster than a bike, it's not as convenient as just walking somewhere for a short trip, and it seems like people with mobility issues would be better served by a traditional scooter or wheelchair. It doesn't protect you from rain or give you extra cargo space.
- cma 16y ago"Making multiple trips to the grocery store every week because you can only hold X bags in your hands/on your bike/in your granny cart is a pain." It is a pain, but then the same person will go spend as much (if not more) time a during a week walking on a treadmill at the gym...
- nhooey 16y agoOne of the advantages a Segway has over a bike is that you don't sweat when you ride it. You can only ride your bike to work if you don't care if you're sweaty, or if you have a shower and the time to use it once you get there. And one major problem I see with not having cars is being able to go somewhere outside of the city on a weekend, when all the ZipCars are taken. If you reduce the amount of cars a city needs on average, everyone is seriously screwed during peak time. Maybe a graduated pricing scheme would fix this: With all of the cars being more expensive on the weekend, you could have a special set of reserve cars which are even more expensive on the weekend so people who really need them and are willing to pay can depend on that reserve. However the advantages gained from people sharing cars instead of everyone having their own, far outweigh the costs.