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I live in Tokyo and I can assure you that living car-free is lovely. I used to love driving, then moved here and stopped caring altogether when I realized that
by cafxx 6y ago
I live in Tokyo and I can assure you that living car-free is lovely.
I used to love driving, then moved here and stopped caring altogether when I realized that public transport here is significantly faster (and cheaper) than using your car to go from point A to point B.
- briefcomment 6y agoAnd probably safer
- cafxx 6y agoQuite so. And, I forgot, you can use the time commuting for something that requires your complete attention - like reading, studying, or even just deep thinking - that you simply can't do when you're driving. So not only it's faster, it actually frees up time for other things.
- 05 6y agoUnless you’re a woman
- KirinDave 6y agoActually that's a very interesting question. Is the rate of sexual assault on Japanese Trains higher or lower than their average auto injury rate?
- adrianN 6y agoIt's a lot higher. But I wouldn't be so sure whether chronic back pain from a car crash is better or worse than being groped in a train.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- cafxx 6y agoThe underlying general point you are making is definitely valid, but there are now reserved cars on all trains during rush hours.
- ekianjo 6y ago> I live in Tokyo and I can assure you that living car-free is lovely So you really enjoy packed subways that make you feel like cattle pretty much every time of the day? Sorry but Tokyo is the best example of "best in class public transport" being completely over capacity for the amount of people they have to transport every day.
- olcor 6y agoIn my personal opinion, better that than trawling slowly through traffic jams. If their train system is over capacity, more people moving through cars would be even more of a nightmare. The feeling of independence (or not feeling like “cattle“) is substantially reduced in big cities, where you are subjected to a lot of traffic rules, overcrowding of cars, jaywalkers, accidents, potholes, diversions, expensive parking space... I could go on.
- ekianjo 6y ago> In my personal opinion, better that than trawling slowly through traffic jams. I think the best way to describe it is that it sucks either way to commute in Tokyo no matter what means of transports you end up using, except if you can live very close to your office, which is not the experience of 99% of people.
- TomMarius 6y agoIt sucks less on a nice heated/cooled chair, with fresh air and nice music and no ------- one around - even in a 10 times less populated city
- cafxx 6y agoAs mentioned in my previous comment, it really does sound like you don't know what you're talking about. Commuting in Tokyo is not without problem, but consistently better than commuting anywhere else I've been. Also, you seem to completely ignore the point that the alternative "everyone commutes by car" (or you have other alternatives?) would result in a constant gridlock given Tokyo's scale - so it would be orders of magnitude worse.
- ollo 6y agoPlease note that European cities are moving away from traditional public transportation (buses, underground, etc.) in favour of personal transportation such as bikes and scooters.
- c2h5oh 6y agoNot moving away from public transit, but adding more viable alternatives to cars.
- bjelkeman-again 6y agoI don’t see that happening enough to more than complement the traditional public transport. I do see a lot of people sick of battery powered scooters littering the sidewalks though.