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I’ve also thought the same as you and wondered what the best way to achieve such a result would be. I think the best thing the city could do is eliminate on str

I’ve also thought the same as you and wondered what the best way to achieve such a result would be. I think the best thing the city could do is eliminate on street parking. Not just free on street parking but on street parking entirely. Every block gets a loading/unloading space, and the rest can be used for open restaurants and other people oriented uses. In addition it will greatly reduce a lot of unnecessary driving. And a congestion charge needs to be implemented ASAP to eliminate a lot of the driving across Manhattan which basically treats some of the worlds most expensive real estate as a glorified thoroughfare.

sails 5y ago
London has this - congestion charge, it probably isn't high enough because London traffic is still terrible, but at £15/$20 it does discourage frequent casual trips. https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge
- cguess 5y ago
  NYC will hopefully have it sooner rather than later. However, it depends on the state legislature, many of whom live an 8+ hour drive away from the city and haven't visited it in years but are convinced they know the best for those of us who live here.
mkoubaa 5y ago
Ban cars one street at a time and let the frog boil
Wowfunhappy 5y ago
I think we should literally just close most roads to cars, and restrict the remainder to trucks, taxis, busses, and anyone who would be allowed in a traditional handicapped parking spot. I'm all for congestion pricing and I wouldn't be against a proposal to eliminate on-street parking—but I think a lot of drivers would just use parking garages.
- arp242 5y ago
  And once you close off roads to cars bus services will instantly improve on account of not being stuck in traffic any more. A lot of cities are investing heavily in specialized bus lanes and the like; not a bad idea as such but it always seemed like a bewilderingly complex and expensive solution. Then again, practically speaking, you will have people foaming at the mouth and rioting in the streets if the "human right" of being able to drive a car anywhere is taken away. You already have people ranting to no end about bus and cycle lanes. Twice someone nearly ran over me on the cycle lane and then proceeded to rant at me that cycle lanes were all bullshit and that I should fuck off with my bike (it's the type of incident that really makes you doubt if physical violence is truly never acceptable...)
raxxorrax 5y ago
Family strutures today mean that you might suddenly need to care for others not in your vicinity. You need to bring them to doctors, nursing or any social activity. Good luck doing that with public traffic. That only works for pure city dwellers. The reality would be that people with such responsibilities would be driven from the city along with those that don't have their own parking spaces. Individual traffic is not going away again, so this is no feasible solution. You could build more parking garages to get unused vehicles from the street perhaps.
- addicted 5y ago
  They can park in private parking lots. I’m still not sure why cars are the only objects that cities are expected to provide storage for. Do you expect the city to provide refrigerated storage for essential groceries since you don’t have a fridge? Do you expect the city to provide storage for a rack of your most essential clothing? Then why are we expecting the city to provide public storage for the ton of metal you decide to move around? In the situation where you’re trying to drive people for emergency needs, in a situation where roads are not crammed with private cars, calling an Uber that drops you off will be cheaper and significantly faster (because you don’t have those private cars clogging up the roads anymore

sails 5y ago

London has this - congestion charge, it probably isn't high enough because London traffic is still terrible, but at £15/$20 it does discourage frequent casual trips. https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge

cguess 5y ago
NYC will hopefully have it sooner rather than later. However, it depends on the state legislature, many of whom live an 8+ hour drive away from the city and haven't visited it in years but are convinced they know the best for those of us who live here.

mkoubaa 5y ago

Ban cars one street at a time and let the frog boil

Wowfunhappy 5y ago

I think we should literally just close most roads to cars, and restrict the remainder to trucks, taxis, busses, and anyone who would be allowed in a traditional handicapped parking spot. I'm all for congestion pricing and I wouldn't be against a proposal to eliminate on-street parking—but I think a lot of drivers would just use parking garages.

arp242 5y ago
And once you close off roads to cars bus services will instantly improve on account of not being stuck in traffic any more. A lot of cities are investing heavily in specialized bus lanes and the like; not a bad idea as such but it always seemed like a bewilderingly complex and expensive solution. Then again, practically speaking, you will have people foaming at the mouth and rioting in the streets if the "human right" of being able to drive a car anywhere is taken away. You already have people ranting to no end about bus and cycle lanes. Twice someone nearly ran over me on the cycle lane and then proceeded to rant at me that cycle lanes were all bullshit and that I should fuck off with my bike (it's the type of incident that really makes you doubt if physical violence is truly never acceptable...)

raxxorrax 5y ago

Family strutures today mean that you might suddenly need to care for others not in your vicinity. You need to bring them to doctors, nursing or any social activity. Good luck doing that with public traffic. That only works for pure city dwellers. The reality would be that people with such responsibilities would be driven from the city along with those that don't have their own parking spaces. Individual traffic is not going away again, so this is no feasible solution. You could build more parking garages to get unused vehicles from the street perhaps.

addicted 5y ago
They can park in private parking lots. I’m still not sure why cars are the only objects that cities are expected to provide storage for. Do you expect the city to provide refrigerated storage for essential groceries since you don’t have a fridge? Do you expect the city to provide storage for a rack of your most essential clothing? Then why are we expecting the city to provide public storage for the ton of metal you decide to move around? In the situation where you’re trying to drive people for emergency needs, in a situation where roads are not crammed with private cars, calling an Uber that drops you off will be cheaper and significantly faster (because you don’t have those private cars clogging up the roads anymore