2 ms·

As someone who has lived in cities, suburbs, and rural regions, (and has studied this issue a lot) cars definitely represent dependance to me. If you grew up s

As someone who has lived in cities, suburbs, and rural regions, (and has studied this issue a lot) cars definitely represent dependance to me. If you grew up somewhere rural or suburban, you basically became a parasite to your parents, and were totally dependent on them for all of your transportation until 16 or 17 when you got a license & car. Even then you're probably gonna be a financial burden (and financially dependent) on your parents to purchase you a car if you are lucky. If you grew up in a city (or a Stars Hollow style small town), you likely got to claim that independence at a much younger age. As a US parent who works, you are VERY likely to spend more time on your commute than with your children if you drive. We talk about 'everyone gets a trophy' culture; what many don't realize is everyone gets a trophy because if you are responsible for driving your kid to the pitch for practice, as the parent you'll be damned if your kid isn't a winner (do kids even care about little statues?). Then, when you age, you are once again going to have to go into a phase of dependance on others for your transit much earlier than people who live in walkable communities. This is both because walkers will be healthier and remain physically able longer, and because even if they did not, they could just walk to doctors appointments, grocery stores, and other destinations necessary to their independence. All of these things are, if not unique to the American experience of the past 50 years, at least magnified here... and I have not even gotten into suburban housing policy and the financial impacts on households of car ownership and on governments of road maintenance (spoiler: its not good). I'd give Strong Towns a serious read; I think you might find that Chuck Marohn is better aligned with your worldview than you think.

pdonis 7y ago
> If you grew up somewhere rural or suburban, you basically became a parasite to your parents, and were totally dependent on them for all of your transportation until 16 or 17 when you got a license & car. I grew up in suburbs. I rode the bus to school and rode my bike to the swimming pool and other places I wanted to play. For a couple of years in high school before I got a license, yes, my parents had to drive me places, but it certainly wasn't for my entire childhood. > As a US parent who works, you are VERY likely to spend more time on your commute than with your children if you drive. For my commute, driving to work takes me about an hour door to door. Taking public transit takes me about an hour and a half. For people who car pool to work in my area (I don't), the disparity can be even larger because of HOV lanes and free use of express lanes on the freeway. Comparisons I've seen between public transit times and driving times often aren't door to door--they only count the actual travel time on the train or bus, not the time spent getting to the station (and parking if you don't live close enough to it to walk), and the time getting to the office after leaving the train or bus. That said, I have nothing whatever against walkable communities (in fact, at some point as I age I will probably try to move to one, for the reasons you give). The freedom cars represent to me is not so much associated with the necessary tasks of life but with the fun ones. For example, I like to drive to Shenandoah National Park to hike. No way public transit is going to get me there. My wife and I like to go to the beach every so often. No way public transit is going to get us there. And so on.

pdonis 7y ago

> If you grew up somewhere rural or suburban, you basically became a parasite to your parents, and were totally dependent on them for all of your transportation until 16 or 17 when you got a license & car. I grew up in suburbs. I rode the bus to school and rode my bike to the swimming pool and other places I wanted to play. For a couple of years in high school before I got a license, yes, my parents had to drive me places, but it certainly wasn't for my entire childhood. > As a US parent who works, you are VERY likely to spend more time on your commute than with your children if you drive. For my commute, driving to work takes me about an hour door to door. Taking public transit takes me about an hour and a half. For people who car pool to work in my area (I don't), the disparity can be even larger because of HOV lanes and free use of express lanes on the freeway. Comparisons I've seen between public transit times and driving times often aren't door to door--they only count the actual travel time on the train or bus, not the time spent getting to the station (and parking if you don't live close enough to it to walk), and the time getting to the office after leaving the train or bus. That said, I have nothing whatever against walkable communities (in fact, at some point as I age I will probably try to move to one, for the reasons you give). The freedom cars represent to me is not so much associated with the necessary tasks of life but with the fun ones. For example, I like to drive to Shenandoah National Park to hike. No way public transit is going to get me there. My wife and I like to go to the beach every so often. No way public transit is going to get us there. And so on.