3 ms·

I'm not surprised in the slightest at these newspaper headlines in the linked tweets. They seem par for the course where I live. I sold my car at a profit two

by pwpw 4y ago

I'm not surprised in the slightest at these newspaper headlines in the linked tweets. They seem par for the course where I live. I sold my car at a profit two months ago and have been walking, cycling, and riding the bus where I need to go. Occasionally my trip calls for an Uber/Lyft. Wow, I have become a pariah in some people's eyes. People have made comments to my face about how it's odd I don't own a car and how it would be best that I get another. Someone scoffed when I answered their question of how I got to their place from mine when I told them I took the bus on a direct route. People do seem to be publicly supportive of me biking for short trips and for exercise, but they're mostly still in the phase of being introduced to the idea that someone could survive only biking. Biking as a primary form of transportation is still a foreign concept to them. I live in a very central part of the city, but this is a car dominated Texas city. Unfortunately, biking infrastructure and car etiquette is extremely poor around here. I find myself having to carefully choose my routes and am unable to reach certain places by bike that are quite close because it's not worth the risk. I hope cars begin to open more to the idea of bicyclists being around. A lot of great people I know have expressed negative sentiments towards bicyclists, so I have to believe there's a larger cultural issue at play.

yieldcrv 4y ago
Same or similar, I sold my car at a profit in spring and went playing around in Europe all summer and then dipped out of there when they turned the gas off. best of all worlds! Back in the states this year, I only had one social outing / date where it was "weird" I didn't have a car, in this car centric city. I actually adjusted in a slightly different way, I got a second lease in another central area of town. (This city has no single "central" area, but multiple happening and trendy areas) so I just uber between my places once a week and stay in the other spot. this solves the logistical challenges of wanting to hang out in the happening area, like maybe I go co-work in that area in the day time but now I have my laptop but don't want to go all the way back to my first spot to drop it off before hanging out, well problem solved I'm staying in my second spot in that area all week. although I avoided it, due to possible theft, I could have stored stuff in my car and used to sometimes. but now I actually get naps in between places by taking ubers or other forms of transit, keeps me fresh for longer, and I can indulge more if I wanted to at the event, and I have more peace of mind for my stuff being at my place. Regarding cultural issues at play. I had begun thinking about inequality. Like, for the first time ever we can have multiple high paying jobs (instead of multiple low paying jobs, or one moderate/high paying job and a low paying moonlighting/moderate freelance gig on the side), and we can also have multiple places. Politicians and municipalities have no clue to address housing or whatever.
- hug 4y ago

by pwpw 4y ago

yieldcrv 4y ago

Same or similar, I sold my car at a profit in spring and went playing around in Europe all summer and then dipped out of there when they turned the gas off. best of all worlds! Back in the states this year, I only had one social outing / date where it was "weird" I didn't have a car, in this car centric city. I actually adjusted in a slightly different way, I got a second lease in another central area of town. (This city has no single "central" area, but multiple happening and trendy areas) so I just uber between my places once a week and stay in the other spot. this solves the logistical challenges of wanting to hang out in the happening area, like maybe I go co-work in that area in the day time but now I have my laptop but don't want to go all the way back to my first spot to drop it off before hanging out, well problem solved I'm staying in my second spot in that area all week. although I avoided it, due to possible theft, I could have stored stuff in my car and used to sometimes. but now I actually get naps in between places by taking ubers or other forms of transit, keeps me fresh for longer, and I can indulge more if I wanted to at the event, and I have more peace of mind for my stuff being at my place. Regarding cultural issues at play. I had begun thinking about inequality. Like, for the first time ever we can have multiple high paying jobs (instead of multiple low paying jobs, or one moderate/high paying job and a low paying moonlighting/moderate freelance gig on the side), and we can also have multiple places. Politicians and municipalities have no clue to address housing or whatever.

hug 4y ago