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> I’m not sure what you’re talking about w.r.t Europe. Even if you have friends that drive everywhere that just is not how most people live day-to-day. I'm eur

> I’m not sure what you’re talking about w.r.t Europe. Even if you have friends that drive everywhere that just is not how most people live day-to-day. I'm european and I've lived in several european countries. It's definitely how a huge percentage of the european population lives day to day. Not even 40% of the european population lives in cities. 30% is towns + suburb and 30% is countryside/seaside/mountain/rural. That's 60% right there where car is the de facto daily way of moving. And even in cities like Brussels or Paris you have those who do use their car on a daily basis, for short trips (like going to drop/pick the kids at school a few kilometers away). Insane statistics (x% of all car trips in Brussels are for less than y kilometers with both x and y being very low: although I forgot the numbers). I guess it depends on who your friends are but around me, in the various place I've lived in Europe, the car is totally king.

ericmay 5y ago
Ah ok. I didn’t realize Europe was built like places like Houston, LA, and Atlanta and everybody took cars everywhere, they did the whole 2hr car commute to the office, and they didn’t walk to the grocery store in their neighborhood and instead they all got in their big SUVs (which they own at least 2 of of course) to the local grocery store about a mile away with the huge parking lot. It’s a small wonder that Europeans can even afford to do this, given how expensive gas is compared to America.
- toyg 5y ago
  "Europe" is much less homogeneous, from an urban-planning perspective, than the US. We have medieval cities with narrow streets, like Barcelona or Firenze, mixed with '70s developments, suburban dormitories, megalopolis like London and Paris, and so on. So depending on who you ask, you will get a very different picture of their habits around transportation. Undoubtedly, you Americans drive more and longer than we do; but we still drive some, and have a similar issue with choosing our development models post-1980. But undoubtedly, ditching cars would be significantly easier for us than it would be for you.
jjav 5y ago
I've never lived in Europe but have family in three European countries, two major famous cities. All of them drive to work every day.

ericmay 5y ago

Ah ok. I didn’t realize Europe was built like places like Houston, LA, and Atlanta and everybody took cars everywhere, they did the whole 2hr car commute to the office, and they didn’t walk to the grocery store in their neighborhood and instead they all got in their big SUVs (which they own at least 2 of of course) to the local grocery store about a mile away with the huge parking lot. It’s a small wonder that Europeans can even afford to do this, given how expensive gas is compared to America.

toyg 5y ago
"Europe" is much less homogeneous, from an urban-planning perspective, than the US. We have medieval cities with narrow streets, like Barcelona or Firenze, mixed with '70s developments, suburban dormitories, megalopolis like London and Paris, and so on. So depending on who you ask, you will get a very different picture of their habits around transportation. Undoubtedly, you Americans drive more and longer than we do; but we still drive some, and have a similar issue with choosing our development models post-1980. But undoubtedly, ditching cars would be significantly easier for us than it would be for you.

jjav 5y ago

I've never lived in Europe but have family in three European countries, two major famous cities. All of them drive to work every day.