3 ms·

I think this is a great point, and I've always been on board with the general damage done by cars. The solutions I read about are nearly always focused around t

I think this is a great point, and I've always been on board with the general damage done by cars. The solutions I read about are nearly always focused around the cities. Now, this makes sense, since most people live in cities, and so you can make the biggest impact there. But what about people who live in the country or rural areas? What solutions are there for those sorts of folks?

kiliantics 5y ago
Trains can still go into the countryside. They used to in much of the US and still do in a lot of Europe. Then there are buses too.
benrbray 5y ago
I've always fancied the German style of having dense clusters of houses/shops around a major train station / highway, with farmland in between. Look at satellite imagery [1] around Stuttgart, for instance. You can totally have walkable city centers in less crowded areas. Of course Germany is not the United States. I don't know anything about agriculture, or to what extent the needs of German agriculture vs US agriculture would be met by such an arrangement. But this being HN, maybe someone knowledgeable can chime in! [1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Stuttgart,+Germany/@48.6623318,9.2196241,14155m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4799db34c1ad8fd3:0x79d5c11c7791cfe4!8m2!3d48.7758459!4d9.1829321 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Stuttgart,+Germany/@48.662...
el_nahual 5y ago
Even in the USA with it's massive sprawl, most (80%+) of the population is urbanized [0]. The ideal mobility framework is one of interconnected small towns/cities (ideally via rail) with non-vehicle traffic for intra town movements. People that live out in a farm can drive in (although to be honest even distances of 10 miles can be very conveniently travelled in an ebike). There's four things that prevent this sort of network from taking hold: 1. At least in the US, the inter-town rail networks have been disbanded or neuterd to a useless extent. 2. No investment for inter-town bus service. You can get to the big city by bus, but not between towns. 3. In most of the small towns in the USA, "main" street is actually a state highway routinely seeing traffic speeds of 50+mph. In other words, the town is divided right down the middle by a highway, with most commerce clustered around this area. This means that even for intra-small-town traffic biking (and sometimes even walking due to a lack of sidewalks!) is dangerous. [0]: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/geo-areas/urban-rural/ua-facts.html https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/g...

kiliantics 5y ago

Trains can still go into the countryside. They used to in much of the US and still do in a lot of Europe. Then there are buses too.

benrbray 5y ago

I've always fancied the German style of having dense clusters of houses/shops around a major train station / highway, with farmland in between. Look at satellite imagery [1] around Stuttgart, for instance. You can totally have walkable city centers in less crowded areas. Of course Germany is not the United States. I don't know anything about agriculture, or to what extent the needs of German agriculture vs US agriculture would be met by such an arrangement. But this being HN, maybe someone knowledgeable can chime in! [1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Stuttgart,+Germany/@48.6623318,9.2196241,14155m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4799db34c1ad8fd3:0x79d5c11c7791cfe4!8m2!3d48.7758459!4d9.1829321 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Stuttgart,+Germany/@48.662...

el_nahual 5y ago

Even in the USA with it's massive sprawl, most (80%+) of the population is urbanized [0]. The ideal mobility framework is one of interconnected small towns/cities (ideally via rail) with non-vehicle traffic for intra town movements. People that live out in a farm can drive in (although to be honest even distances of 10 miles can be very conveniently travelled in an ebike). There's four things that prevent this sort of network from taking hold: 1. At least in the US, the inter-town rail networks have been disbanded or neuterd to a useless extent. 2. No investment for inter-town bus service. You can get to the big city by bus, but not between towns. 3. In most of the small towns in the USA, "main" street is actually a state highway routinely seeing traffic speeds of 50+mph. In other words, the town is divided right down the middle by a highway, with most commerce clustered around this area. This means that even for intra-small-town traffic biking (and sometimes even walking due to a lack of sidewalks!) is dangerous. [0]: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/geo-areas/urban-rural/ua-facts.html https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/g...