4 ms·

The city that I live in is very spread out. The idea of hopping from a subway to a bus to another bus just to get to a doctor's appointment sounds awful. And

by aantix 6y ago

The city that I live in is very spread out. The idea of hopping from a subway to a bus to another bus just to get to a doctor's appointment sounds awful. And if I had to take 4 young kids along with me for the trip, double awful. For the denser cities - my wife and I lived in SF for close to five years. As our family grew, and the city space grew more populous, parking spots were really rare. Getting to a pediatric appointment was misery. We knew the above scenario was our future. And it sounded completely miserable. So we moved to a spread out, suburban city. I want to go directly to the location and start the errand as soon as possible. I hate waiting or slow buses or waiting for people to get on, get off. I just want to be able to go.

jxramos 6y ago
Indeed, the creature comforts of a car is probably the big reason they are so successful compared to the alternatives. I rode public transportation well into my late twenties I think. When some folks would accompany me for the trip at times they didn't even own hardy thick winter coats to be able to bear the cold elements outside. People who haven't had to spend significant times standing and waiting to be picked up outside can be pretty shocked at how unpleasant the experience can be, especially given harsher locations.
- jxramos 6y ago
  Come to reflect more on the public transportation experience you'd often overhear people's aspirations and progress towards car ownership, especially among the teens from what I recall. Forgot all about that frequent occurrence.
twic 6y ago
Your city is very spread out because everyone has a car. This is why this is such a difficult problem - transport networks, whether road or rail - are a fundamental part of the anatomy of a city. You can't simply take a city which grew up around driving and replace that with taking the train, any more that you can transplant a crab's exoskeleton into a rabbit. Nonetheless, our cities must eventually become crabs. So we need to have a plan for how we're going to make that transformation gradually, as the cities grow and evolve.

by aantix 6y ago

jxramos 6y ago

Indeed, the creature comforts of a car is probably the big reason they are so successful compared to the alternatives. I rode public transportation well into my late twenties I think. When some folks would accompany me for the trip at times they didn't even own hardy thick winter coats to be able to bear the cold elements outside. People who haven't had to spend significant times standing and waiting to be picked up outside can be pretty shocked at how unpleasant the experience can be, especially given harsher locations.

jxramos 6y ago
Come to reflect more on the public transportation experience you'd often overhear people's aspirations and progress towards car ownership, especially among the teens from what I recall. Forgot all about that frequent occurrence.

twic 6y ago

Your city is very spread out because everyone has a car. This is why this is such a difficult problem - transport networks, whether road or rail - are a fundamental part of the anatomy of a city. You can't simply take a city which grew up around driving and replace that with taking the train, any more that you can transplant a crab's exoskeleton into a rabbit. Nonetheless, our cities must eventually become crabs. So we need to have a plan for how we're going to make that transformation gradually, as the cities grow and evolve.