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Cities existed before oil. A city without cars can actually be a massive improvement

• incomingpain 5y ago
  >Cities existed before oil. A city without cars can actually be a massive improvement True but cities required domestication of the horse. There were literally horse shit all over the roads and the occasional dead horse that was abandoned. The answer isn't subways or monorails neither. The answer may be robotaxis. I am very optimistic that this could solve a large degree of the issues.
  • afiori 5y ago
    If you were to replace all inbound/outbound subway connection of Manhattan with bridges and car traffic you would need 49 bridges the size of Manhattan bridge as a replacement. Cars are very useful to go wherever you want, but are literally the worst for volume. Similarly to how trucks are necessary to move stuff around but they cannot replace train freight/air planes/container ships.
    • incomingpain 5y ago
      >If you were to replace all inbound/outbound subway connection of Manhattan with bridges and car traffic you would need 49 bridges the size of Manhattan bridge as a replacement. dont take me as attacking nyc and/or their subway. I'm certain at some grand time in the future all cities have a subway with rapid transport.
      • afiori 5y ago
        I was replying to > The answer may be robotaxis. I am very optimistic that this could solve a large degree of the issues. What I was trying to say is that cars (autonomous or not) are to mass transportation what copper wire is to the internet: better to keep the bulk of it out of it. Also car infrastructure is extremely expensive, both in and of itself and as a collateral, parking lot requirements have a huge maintenance and spatial cost.