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Automated Vehicles Can't Save Cities
- jasonmaydie 9y agocities don't exist in a vacuum. Many towns die because something essential like a coal mine was removed from the economy, just like removing cars (no matter how noble) could kill some cities too.
- eesmith 9y agoI wasn't able to read the article. It was completely blank in my browser. Could you say who is saying that we should remove cars from a city, even to the point that it would kill the city? Because I've not heard anyone propose that. I've heard of car-free regions of a city, and cities like Venice which effectively had no private cars, and bans on some cars (like gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles in favor of electric). But never to the point that it would kill a city.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- bob_theslob646 9y agoYou have to physically click the page on it in order for it to load. The page is interactive even though the it doesn't explicitly say so. The New York Times assumes you know.
- eesmith 9y agoInteresting. It's acting different now than yesterday, so perhaps they fixed something? Thanks for pointing it out. Clicking on a bajillion one-sentence pages might win a design award but it's awful to read. I didn't.
- jenkstom 9y agoI get the argument, but my quality of life will be improved dramatically without the constant road rage-inducing craziness of my 23 minute commute.
- rmuesi 9y agoThis was some weak ass logic.
- tim333 9y agoI was thinking that. Even the title implies cites need saving whereas in reality they are growing merrily - it's the isolated small towns that need saving if anything.
- noahmbarr 9y agoI think we can all agree that cities should be “humans first”, not “car first”.
- CodeWriter23 9y agoSorry, the figure of 1600 cars per hour is complete and utter bullshit. If just 5 cars get through a signal on a 30 second cycle, that’s 600 cars per hour. For a single intersection. How many intersections are there in a city? A well designed intersection can easily get 20 cars through per cycle. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of bus lanes and really a fan of light rail. But I really hate this type of hype where basic assumptions don’t pass the smell test. And if you want to get into some real economics, a system like the LA Metro Authority operates at about 20% Fare Box Recovery. That means for every $1 of fare collected, a subsidy of $4 is required to keep the system running. At least when someone drives their own car, they are actually paying their own way.
- jackvalentine 9y ago> At least when someone drives their own car, they are actually paying their own way. Do they? The sheer amount of infrastructure for cars and parking make me question that statement.
- CodeWriter23 9y agoTaxes
- jackvalentine 9y agoThat doesn’t really answer the question.
- CodeWriter23 9y agoHow does it not? People pay their taxes, income, sales and use tax, gasoline, whatever form their local government uses to fund roads, and their fair share of the road use comes out of their pocket. So, yes, driving your own car IS actually paying your own way.
- jackvalentine 9y ago
- bob_theslob646 9y agoWhat I think the author fails to touch on well is the fact that transit is not sexy or at least not sexy yet, at least in the United States. Have you ever noticed that most car commercials capture the essence of a confident person in control of their own destiny? I know it sounds like b* but they all do it. The reality is drivers are in control of their own destiny if they were driving on a road by themselves. The United States has to figure out a way to make mass transit sexy sooner rather than later,otherwise it will never work. The hilarious thing is investing in High-Speed Rail maybe one of the best things that the US can do because not only will it make people happier if they run as efficiently as they do in Japan but the cost of goods could severely go down therefore eliminating some poverty which the u.s. census has reported that transportation or rather lack of access to it has been linked to poverty.