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I like being able to walk my city (I live in San Jose) but I can't imagine not having a car. Being able to take road trips to things like festivals where I don'

by kodah 4y ago

I like being able to walk my city (I live in San Jose) but I can't imagine not having a car. Being able to take road trips to things like festivals where I don't have to pay incredible baggage fees or sit on a train without wifi for days at a time is fairly nice. I would like a world that balances being able to walk with being able to own a car, especially as I get older and move out of the city. I do think it's a little odd that so many HNers hate cars (an example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32297081 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32297081). I'm not quite sure what to make of those attitudes, even after reading some of their text.

opportune 4y ago
How much of that is because you live in one of the sprawliest cities in the US? Of course living in San Jose would be terrible without a car. But that's because the city was designed around cars. In places like Hong Kong it's the exact opposite, you would not even want a car because the city was not designed around them - you can easily get to places without one, and things like parking/dealing with pedestrians/the cost would make it an overall terrible UX. Also, you are not exactly not paying baggage fees or saving money on wifi. The car itself still has a lot of costs (the upfront cost or payments, insurance, gas, various bureaucratic costs, parking, potentially tolls) - it may very well be that in your situation you're still effectively saving money with the car, but it's not exactly clear-cut.
- kodah 4y ago
  You actually didn't address why I said I liked cars, which is for road trips. My independence is really another. My point here, is rather than arguing for no cars, I argue for a society that balances both equally. I don't really like the idea of people making somewhere totally unwalkable or totally undrivable. Ironically, as much as you tried to disqualify what I said, I have no problem walking or biking around San Jose. Whether it was "designed for cars" is pretty arbitrary to me. I can ride my bike to the grocery store or deli and I can walk to a c-store and anywhere else I need to go. Maybe stop trying to dismiss me and really read what I said.

by kodah 4y ago

opportune 4y ago

How much of that is because you live in one of the sprawliest cities in the US? Of course living in San Jose would be terrible without a car. But that's because the city was designed around cars. In places like Hong Kong it's the exact opposite, you would not even want a car because the city was not designed around them - you can easily get to places without one, and things like parking/dealing with pedestrians/the cost would make it an overall terrible UX. Also, you are not exactly not paying baggage fees or saving money on wifi. The car itself still has a lot of costs (the upfront cost or payments, insurance, gas, various bureaucratic costs, parking, potentially tolls) - it may very well be that in your situation you're still effectively saving money with the car, but it's not exactly clear-cut.

kodah 4y ago
You actually didn't address why I said I liked cars, which is for road trips. My independence is really another. My point here, is rather than arguing for no cars, I argue for a society that balances both equally. I don't really like the idea of people making somewhere totally unwalkable or totally undrivable. Ironically, as much as you tried to disqualify what I said, I have no problem walking or biking around San Jose. Whether it was "designed for cars" is pretty arbitrary to me. I can ride my bike to the grocery store or deli and I can walk to a c-store and anywhere else I need to go. Maybe stop trying to dismiss me and really read what I said.