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My whole family worked for a major car manufacturer. My mother was the first woman tin smith hired there. I grew up loving cars (rural living). But now I’ve los
by zwilliamson 4y ago
My whole family worked for a major car manufacturer. My mother was the first woman tin smith hired there. I grew up loving cars (rural living). But now I’ve lost the love. I think mainly after seeing what they do to amazing cities like SF and Seattle my heart has changed. We need to subsidize and promote better personal mobility options. My daily driver is a Riese & Muller Load 60 e-cargo bike. I’ve had it since 2020. I’ve lived in multiple cities and it is an ideal personal mobility setup. My dog rides around with me too! Why am I the only one in this town riding around in one? It’s not a money problem. I see people buying secondary cars to drive 2 blocks to the grocery store. Is it a safety issue? Very fixable. Are people lazy? Absolutely, but they can be motivated.
In the US we had a massive infra bill pass. How much is going to local pedestrian and cycling infrastructure? Just so frustrating the stranglehold cars have on us.
- djaychela 4y agoJust looked at the Riese & Muller. Looks great, but I think part of the problem with ebikes like this is that they -are- the price of a secondhand car, and most people will just go with that instead. I've got a 'normal' ebike, and I used it a lot in lockdown, and often use it to go to the local shops. Would love something like the R&M, but it's a lot of money...
- zwilliamson 4y agoPeople usually don’t look at the maintenance costs of owning a car. Gas, insurance, registration, tune ups, repairs. Then compare how much you’ll put into your R&M over the years. It doesn’t even come close to a cars yearly costs :)
- dfxm12 4y agoIt's part auto lobby, part ID pol. Conservatives, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, for some reason are against any mode of transportation that isn't powered by an ICE. She's said "Democrats like Pete Buttigieg want to emasculate the way we drive and force all of you to rely on electric vehicles". The bill had a hard time passing as it was...
- neuronic 4y agoAha, loving the smell and feel of burned or non-burned degraded zooplankton matter is masculine but driving across the city with the power of lightening like Thor himself is not. Got it. What I actually wanted to express: it's about framing and marketing and people like MTG capitalize on that. In the end, emotions will play a big role when it comes to adoption and this is where media and advertising giants come in.
- stronglikedan 4y agoI just love my car. I just love to drive it. I love to go where I want, whenever I want. I hate being driven - it's anxiety inducing and mind-numbingly boring. I appreciate the car-friendly infrastructure. I'd wager most drivers IRL are like me, despite the vocal online minority. We should work on better infrastructure that allows for all public and private transport modes to work about equally as well in a given space.
- zwilliamson 4y agoCars are cool tech no doubt. I just think when you step back and look at our cities the car infrastructure is overwhelming. No one should die because they were walking in a city. San Francisco had a Vision Zero goal; to have no pedestrian or biking deaths in the city. They made good progress but are far from reaching the goal
- ryanianian 4y agoI live in a very walkable city (NYC). But I don't dare ride a bike. The car traffic is too nasty, and I'm very non-confident about my bike-riding abilities. I would love a motorized three-wheeler or something where I don't have to balance on my own _too_ much. Maybe with a roof for the rain. Perhaps I'm dreaming of a world full of personal tuk-tuks and golf-carts? It's annoying that the only real options in the US seem to be "30 pound bike" or "2-ton+ car".