3 ms·

Seriously, who will own a car 20 years from now?

causi 5y ago
Not everybody wants to live in a hive city where you can hear your neighbors. I'm all for making cities as walkable as they can be, even ban cars from them. Just don't ever make me set foot in one again.
- klabb3 5y ago
  Then your choices would be rural, which I can understand, and car-centric suburbia, which seems like the worst compromise to me.. This is obviously subjective though.
  - causi 5y ago
    Indeed. Suburbia only exists because of people like me who'd prefer to live rurally but can't make a living there. I can't have fifty acres of woods but I can have trees and grass and birds.
    - timeon 5y ago
      And huge amount of public infrastructure.
      - causi 5y ago
        If my taxes and utility bills are not covering the cost then they should be adjusted to match.
- adrianN 5y ago
  You don't hear your neighbors in modern buildings. But of course we won't replace all buildings in the next twenty years.
Jtsummers 5y ago
Probably about as many people as today (in the US, at least). Short a massive revolution in on-demand vehicles, public transit, or a major move back towards urban centers the suburban sprawl and consequent "need" for cars is unlikely to change.
- richardfey 5y ago
  They're going to be electric. I was thinking that less people might be interested in owning due to the different type of maintenance needed, and more expensive costs.
  - Jtsummers 5y ago
    Necessity, though. People (in the US) "need" cars due to the way we've built our cities over the past 70 or 80 years (in particular). Even if they don't want electric cars, they'll end up buying them. Just as people who didn't want cars that "have a computer in them" (versus older, almost purely electromechanical, cars) still buy cars today. Maintenance just got outsourced instead of being a weekend activity a few times a year. That trend will continue. Again, the only exceptions (that I see) will be: better public transportation (light rail to bring in residents in the suburbs, buses for inside the city), more on-demand services (I can't get an Uber or Lyft to bring me home, let alone pick me up, and my suburb has something like 20-30k people in it, but 5 miles past where those services will go), automated vehicles (related to on-demand), or movement back towards urban living (which can be served by the preceding + walking/biking more easily). That last one is highly unlikely due to costs, though, at least for a mass migration.

Not everybody wants to live in a hive city where you can hear your neighbors. I'm all for making cities as walkable as they can be, even ban cars from them. Just don't ever make me set foot in one again.

klabb3 5y ago
Then your choices would be rural, which I can understand, and car-centric suburbia, which seems like the worst compromise to me.. This is obviously subjective though.
- causi 5y ago
  Indeed. Suburbia only exists because of people like me who'd prefer to live rurally but can't make a living there. I can't have fifty acres of woods but I can have trees and grass and birds.
  - timeon 5y ago
    And huge amount of public infrastructure.
    - causi 5y ago
      If my taxes and utility bills are not covering the cost then they should be adjusted to match.
adrianN 5y ago
You don't hear your neighbors in modern buildings. But of course we won't replace all buildings in the next twenty years.

Jtsummers 5y ago

Probably about as many people as today (in the US, at least). Short a massive revolution in on-demand vehicles, public transit, or a major move back towards urban centers the suburban sprawl and consequent "need" for cars is unlikely to change.

richardfey 5y ago
They're going to be electric. I was thinking that less people might be interested in owning due to the different type of maintenance needed, and more expensive costs.
- Jtsummers 5y ago
  Necessity, though. People (in the US) "need" cars due to the way we've built our cities over the past 70 or 80 years (in particular). Even if they don't want electric cars, they'll end up buying them. Just as people who didn't want cars that "have a computer in them" (versus older, almost purely electromechanical, cars) still buy cars today. Maintenance just got outsourced instead of being a weekend activity a few times a year. That trend will continue. Again, the only exceptions (that I see) will be: better public transportation (light rail to bring in residents in the suburbs, buses for inside the city), more on-demand services (I can't get an Uber or Lyft to bring me home, let alone pick me up, and my suburb has something like 20-30k people in it, but 5 miles past where those services will go), automated vehicles (related to on-demand), or movement back towards urban living (which can be served by the preceding + walking/biking more easily). That last one is highly unlikely due to costs, though, at least for a mass migration.