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re: traffic There are multiple larger US cities that have less traffic than Austin. The reason why people cite Austin's traffic as a problrm is because it's hor

by robbyt 8y ago

re: traffic There are multiple larger US cities that have less traffic than Austin. The reason why people cite Austin's traffic as a problrm is because it's horrible relative to the population of the city. Most of Austin is very suburban, with windy/hilly roads that cause horrible congestion. A few years ago, I was out from NYC visiting some family. I forgot to pack socks, and I had to drive 45mns to the nearest shopping center to buy some. After driving, parking, busy mall, the entire Saturday afternoon trip took me almost 2.5 hours just to get socks! In any other American city, I'd expect this to take 1 hour max (most parts of NYC would take 20-30mns). Yes, there are many variables I'm not accounting for in my anecdotal example, time of day, distance from major conduits, etc. But I've talked to other people who live in Austin and this seems like the norm.

theli0nheart 8y ago
> A few years ago, I was out from NYC visiting some family. I forgot to pack socks, and I had to drive 45mns to the nearest shopping center to buy some. After driving, parking, busy mall, the entire Saturday afternoon trip took me almost 2.5 hours just to get socks! In any other American city, I'd expect this to take 1 hour max (most parts of NYC would take 20-30mns). Wow, that's totally wild. I've literally never experienced anything like this, or heard of anyone ever experiencing this in Austin. Thing is, going end to end of Austin "proper" will never take more than an hour and a half on the worst of traffic days. I can't even imagine how far you were going for a trip to be 1.25 hours to the nearest shopping center. Maybe there was a really bad accident? Or major road work? In any case, I don't think this is a common occurrence.
ericabiz 8y ago
It really depends on where you live. I live in a pretty central part of Austin, and for socks I have the following options: 1) Amazon Prime Now with 2-hour delivery 2) I can drive to Walmart (5 minutes) or Target (10 minutes) 3) I own an electric scooter (the same ones Bird uses) so I can scoot over to Walmart (10 minutes on scooter) In any city, if you live 45 minutes outside of civilization, you're going to run into the situation you described. Lots of people here live in the hill country or out in rural areas because it's quiet and they can get lots of land cheap. To me, that's a benefit of living in this area--that that type of real estate is available--but personally, I prefer to live closer in.

by robbyt 8y ago

theli0nheart 8y ago

> A few years ago, I was out from NYC visiting some family. I forgot to pack socks, and I had to drive 45mns to the nearest shopping center to buy some. After driving, parking, busy mall, the entire Saturday afternoon trip took me almost 2.5 hours just to get socks! In any other American city, I'd expect this to take 1 hour max (most parts of NYC would take 20-30mns). Wow, that's totally wild. I've literally never experienced anything like this, or heard of anyone ever experiencing this in Austin. Thing is, going end to end of Austin "proper" will never take more than an hour and a half on the worst of traffic days. I can't even imagine how far you were going for a trip to be 1.25 hours to the nearest shopping center. Maybe there was a really bad accident? Or major road work? In any case, I don't think this is a common occurrence.

ericabiz 8y ago

It really depends on where you live. I live in a pretty central part of Austin, and for socks I have the following options: 1) Amazon Prime Now with 2-hour delivery 2) I can drive to Walmart (5 minutes) or Target (10 minutes) 3) I own an electric scooter (the same ones Bird uses) so I can scoot over to Walmart (10 minutes on scooter) In any city, if you live 45 minutes outside of civilization, you're going to run into the situation you described. Lots of people here live in the hill country or out in rural areas because it's quiet and they can get lots of land cheap. To me, that's a benefit of living in this area--that that type of real estate is available--but personally, I prefer to live closer in.