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> ... people have come to expect the freedoms that cars bring them this idea has some truth, but ... with higher population densities and traffic, the amount o
by HillaryBriss 8y ago
> ... people have come to expect the freedoms that cars bring them
this idea has some truth, but ... with higher population densities and traffic, the amount of freedom a private car offers diminishes significantly.
if the rules of the road were changed in California -- if taxes, fees, insurance and fuel costs went high enough, if metered lanes on freeways charged enough, individual car ownership would become much less desirable, even to Americans.
people, even US people, would adapt and the whole system might finally be arranged so that commuters could arrive at work on a reliable time schedule.
- yostrovs 8y agoAgain, hard to argue against wild speculation. The train is being built within our current reality and people's desires are part of that reality. Arguably, the freedom that cars provide is an incredibly powerful and beneficial thing for the happiness of Americans.
- HillaryBriss 8y agoI'm not speculating about this: I and thousands of daily commuters have noticed that driving a car on the Hollywood freeway in rush hour does not feel like an experience of freedom. At least some of those commuters find the Metro red line to downtown, which runs on a fairly reliable schedule, arrives more quickly and does feel like an experience of freedom, by comparison. Another non speculative observation: at least some Americans who move to NYC find that selling their car is a liberating experience. Also, not having a car, is, in some ways a way to gain some freedom: insurance and maintenance burdens decrease, time and effort to park the vehicle are eliminated, etc