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Exactly, European cities have been designed around public transportation, the way sane cities should be designed. American cities are the result of an experimen

Exactly, European cities have been designed around public transportation, the way sane cities should be designed. American cities are the result of an experiment where everyone needs to have one or more cars to survive.

mrtksn 6y ago
Actually, the biggest European cities were designed to withstand medieval battles. All the things attributed to the American car-centric lifestyle were a thing to some degree everywhere. Then people got tired of it and changed it. Probably Europe not having much petrol also helped, which also explains the tendency of the European cars having significantly smaller and efficient engines. There are plenty of cool videos of European cities that used to be traffic hells that turned into bicycle friendly walkable places. Though admittedly the hell part still exist for those who choose the to drive the cars.
- Qwertious 6y ago
  European cities used to be designed to withstand medieval battles. Sadly, they were not designed to withstand carpet bombing due to WW2 and had to spend a massive amount of money on rebuilding over decades. That said, like you mentioned: that didn't stop them from making traffic hellholes. Designing a city to need cars is a choice.
andrepd 6y ago
What? European cities are mostly between hundreds and thousands years old. Nearly all of them weren't "designed for public transport". Cars are a huge problem in Europe as well.
- cmrdporcupine 6y ago
  The core of European cities were built around foot and horse travel, and then that template fit for expansion outward, even after the influence of the car. Take Mainz, Germany; where my father is from; the core of the city is a walkable old city (which my Opa knew every corner of having worked for the city for decades, and he toured me around all over it when I visited...). But then around it are a whole bunch of villages which grew into suburbs, and are connected by freeway. But it seems to me that because each of those villages, towns, and the central city already had a tradition of walkability, the connectivity between the towns, villages, suburbs took that into account when the post-WWII reconstruction happened. In Mainz I was able to take a streetcar out from the centre of town to a small village in under 45 minutes and go walk in a forest. Here in southern Ontario -- where we have similar density and population to the Frankfurt/Rhine corridor -- such a thing requires a car.
Robotbeat 6y ago
...and Europe uses LOTS of cars, still. As does Japan. I don’t understand why people argue for public transport as a reason not to electrify cars. Like, we HAVE to electrify cars. Is this just more excuses to justify buying a nice new combustion vehicle?

mrtksn 6y ago

Actually, the biggest European cities were designed to withstand medieval battles. All the things attributed to the American car-centric lifestyle were a thing to some degree everywhere. Then people got tired of it and changed it. Probably Europe not having much petrol also helped, which also explains the tendency of the European cars having significantly smaller and efficient engines. There are plenty of cool videos of European cities that used to be traffic hells that turned into bicycle friendly walkable places. Though admittedly the hell part still exist for those who choose the to drive the cars.

Qwertious 6y ago
European cities used to be designed to withstand medieval battles. Sadly, they were not designed to withstand carpet bombing due to WW2 and had to spend a massive amount of money on rebuilding over decades. That said, like you mentioned: that didn't stop them from making traffic hellholes. Designing a city to need cars is a choice.

andrepd 6y ago

What? European cities are mostly between hundreds and thousands years old. Nearly all of them weren't "designed for public transport". Cars are a huge problem in Europe as well.

cmrdporcupine 6y ago
The core of European cities were built around foot and horse travel, and then that template fit for expansion outward, even after the influence of the car. Take Mainz, Germany; where my father is from; the core of the city is a walkable old city (which my Opa knew every corner of having worked for the city for decades, and he toured me around all over it when I visited...). But then around it are a whole bunch of villages which grew into suburbs, and are connected by freeway. But it seems to me that because each of those villages, towns, and the central city already had a tradition of walkability, the connectivity between the towns, villages, suburbs took that into account when the post-WWII reconstruction happened. In Mainz I was able to take a streetcar out from the centre of town to a small village in under 45 minutes and go walk in a forest. Here in southern Ontario -- where we have similar density and population to the Frankfurt/Rhine corridor -- such a thing requires a car.

Robotbeat 6y ago

...and Europe uses LOTS of cars, still. As does Japan. I don’t understand why people argue for public transport as a reason not to electrify cars. Like, we HAVE to electrify cars. Is this just more excuses to justify buying a nice new combustion vehicle?