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> I still believe that for a vast majority of humans, the automobile is their private abode, that takes them to places. We are explorers by heart and ever sinc

> I still believe that for a vast majority of humans, the automobile is their private abode, that takes them to places. We are explorers by heart and ever since the invention of the wheel, we have coveted vehicles. They are our private sanctuaries that propel us from one location to another. No other mode of transport, be it a bus, train or god forbid a plane, provides this level of comfort. I think this is a cultural artefact of a car-centric society. Cars are not really viewed in this way in my culture (Denmark). They're just another mode of transportation, nothing special about them compared to bicycles, busses, trains, etc. People go with what is most convenient. If you need to get some office work done remotely, then being a passenger in a train saves more time than driving a car. If you want exercise built in to your commute, bicycles are better. In an urban setting, cars are in fact seen as a hassle. They're mostly loved by people in rural areas. I don't deny that cars have their place, but the kind of exploration potential that a car offers (relatively infrequent, longer distances) can easily be served by rented cars. There is no reason to own a car just to go on infrequent car trips.

bb123 7y ago
But your comment glosses over the part about rural people though. The reason these people love them is because there is no alternative and I don't really see how we can change that. Mass transit doesn't make sense in rural areas.
- 317070 7y ago
  But (electric) bikes do? Yeah, you will probably own a car living in a rural area, but where I was from, when you went to the city you either switched modes (car+walk/scoot) or cycled to the city. The group of people who really has no alternative is actually quite small. And over here, there is a small but growing opinion that those people maybe should live in the city in the first place? Right now they are making city life more noisy, smelly, toxic, ugly and unsafe for the city person on his cycle, and that basically for free. Is it really a right to exchange other peoples environment for your comfort?
  - bb123 7y ago
    Totally agree cars are not the right mode of transport for cities. I'm a big fan of park and ride solutions for this - drive to the outskirts, dump the car and ride the train/bus in. I don't think it is really fair however to ask people who live in rural areas to move to cities. In general rural areas are more deprived so I would hazard a guess that many of them couldn't afford to live in the city even if they wanted to. Plus we do need people in rural areas - agriculture and tourism are both important industries.
  - garretraziel 7y ago
    > And over here, there is a small but growing opinion that those people maybe should live in the city in the first place? I live in central Europe and there is actually quite opposite debate: people are moving to cities in large quantities, so rural areas are becoming emptier and poorer every day. Not everyone can and should live in a big city.
- simongray 7y ago
  > But your comment glosses over the part about rural people though. The reason these people love them is because there is no alternative and I don't really see how we can change that. Mass transit doesn't make sense in rural areas. I didn't gloss over it, it just wasn't relevant to the point I was making. The topic is banning cars in cities, not banning them in general. Anyway, I don't see a reason to force rural people to not use a car. There's plenty of space out in the country, so let them have their cars. Obviously, we need to transition all cars away from combustion engines in the near future, but that is a separate issue.

bb123 7y ago

But your comment glosses over the part about rural people though. The reason these people love them is because there is no alternative and I don't really see how we can change that. Mass transit doesn't make sense in rural areas.

317070 7y ago
But (electric) bikes do? Yeah, you will probably own a car living in a rural area, but where I was from, when you went to the city you either switched modes (car+walk/scoot) or cycled to the city. The group of people who really has no alternative is actually quite small. And over here, there is a small but growing opinion that those people maybe should live in the city in the first place? Right now they are making city life more noisy, smelly, toxic, ugly and unsafe for the city person on his cycle, and that basically for free. Is it really a right to exchange other peoples environment for your comfort?
- bb123 7y ago
  Totally agree cars are not the right mode of transport for cities. I'm a big fan of park and ride solutions for this - drive to the outskirts, dump the car and ride the train/bus in. I don't think it is really fair however to ask people who live in rural areas to move to cities. In general rural areas are more deprived so I would hazard a guess that many of them couldn't afford to live in the city even if they wanted to. Plus we do need people in rural areas - agriculture and tourism are both important industries.
- garretraziel 7y ago
  > And over here, there is a small but growing opinion that those people maybe should live in the city in the first place? I live in central Europe and there is actually quite opposite debate: people are moving to cities in large quantities, so rural areas are becoming emptier and poorer every day. Not everyone can and should live in a big city.
simongray 7y ago
> But your comment glosses over the part about rural people though. The reason these people love them is because there is no alternative and I don't really see how we can change that. Mass transit doesn't make sense in rural areas. I didn't gloss over it, it just wasn't relevant to the point I was making. The topic is banning cars in cities, not banning them in general. Anyway, I don't see a reason to force rural people to not use a car. There's plenty of space out in the country, so let them have their cars. Obviously, we need to transition all cars away from combustion engines in the near future, but that is a separate issue.