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Don't something like 80% of Americans live in urban or sub-urban areas? I live in a suburban area in Europe and have no problems getting around with public tran

by gman83 7y ago

Don't something like 80% of Americans live in urban or sub-urban areas? I live in a suburban area in Europe and have no problems getting around with public transportation. I get my groceries delivered by the shop.

colanderman 7y ago
Most American suburbs are not well served by public transportation. Personally, I've lived in many cities, suburbs, and rural areas in the northeast US (population-dense, relatively friendly toward ecological initiatives) and tried to use public transit whenever possible. My experience is that public transport outside cities is practically nonexistent. In cities, there are only buses and they're annoying/slow/don't go where you need them. Only now that I live in the immediate vicinity of Boston do I have useful public transit options, yet still, owning a car is a necessity to get to anything outside the city.
AgloeDreams 7y ago
Sub-urban America is not 'no car' America, lacking public transport, the downright scale of American cities, and a car-focused traffic/zoning design makes bikes, walking, and bussing simply just not practical.
ckuhl 7y ago
The definition of what a suburban area is in North America vs. Europe are so different they really need different words. A typical suburb in the US will have no public transportation, and be so sprawled out that bicycling or walking between places would be impossible for a working adult.
- WorldMaker 7y ago
  "Exurb" isn't used enough to describe American suburbs, but is certainly appropriate. Suburban sprawl got so bad that the original suburbs of a lot of cities, that were built with public transit in mind, today Americans think of as "city core" or "inner city" and don't even recognize as suburbs anymore. Meanwhile most of what Americans imagine suburbs to be are more accurately exurbs, and exurban living is seen as more normal than the traditional relationships between cities and their suburbs for a number of unhealthy reasons.
sp332 7y ago
Yeah it's only 90% of the county by land area. If you count by people it's probably a lot lower. But keep in mind that public transportation is terrible even in dense places where it could make a huge difference in the US.
TulliusCicero 7y ago
I'm an American in Munich, suburbs here are still walkable, bikeable, and often have a solid S-Bahn connection to the city center. In America, most suburbs are bad for walking, actively hostile to biking, and have either no public transit or nearly unusable public transit. The cities are usually not much better, either. Only a handful in the US have public transit that can even be called decent, let alone good.
- SEJeff 7y ago
  This so much ^

by gman83 7y ago

colanderman 7y ago

Most American suburbs are not well served by public transportation. Personally, I've lived in many cities, suburbs, and rural areas in the northeast US (population-dense, relatively friendly toward ecological initiatives) and tried to use public transit whenever possible. My experience is that public transport outside cities is practically nonexistent. In cities, there are only buses and they're annoying/slow/don't go where you need them. Only now that I live in the immediate vicinity of Boston do I have useful public transit options, yet still, owning a car is a necessity to get to anything outside the city.

AgloeDreams 7y ago

Sub-urban America is not 'no car' America, lacking public transport, the downright scale of American cities, and a car-focused traffic/zoning design makes bikes, walking, and bussing simply just not practical.

ckuhl 7y ago

The definition of what a suburban area is in North America vs. Europe are so different they really need different words. A typical suburb in the US will have no public transportation, and be so sprawled out that bicycling or walking between places would be impossible for a working adult.

WorldMaker 7y ago
"Exurb" isn't used enough to describe American suburbs, but is certainly appropriate. Suburban sprawl got so bad that the original suburbs of a lot of cities, that were built with public transit in mind, today Americans think of as "city core" or "inner city" and don't even recognize as suburbs anymore. Meanwhile most of what Americans imagine suburbs to be are more accurately exurbs, and exurban living is seen as more normal than the traditional relationships between cities and their suburbs for a number of unhealthy reasons.

sp332 7y ago

Yeah it's only 90% of the county by land area. If you count by people it's probably a lot lower. But keep in mind that public transportation is terrible even in dense places where it could make a huge difference in the US.

TulliusCicero 7y ago

I'm an American in Munich, suburbs here are still walkable, bikeable, and often have a solid S-Bahn connection to the city center. In America, most suburbs are bad for walking, actively hostile to biking, and have either no public transit or nearly unusable public transit. The cities are usually not much better, either. Only a handful in the US have public transit that can even be called decent, let alone good.

SEJeff 7y ago
This so much ^