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I like cars and spend a decent amount of time keeping my cars looking pristine. I personally prefer having more than enough parking rather than just enough. Mos

I like cars and spend a decent amount of time keeping my cars looking pristine. I personally prefer having more than enough parking rather than just enough. Most of the efforts to improve walkability makes it impossible to find parking when you are driving in and forces you to park in dense areas where you either have to pay a fortune to park or park in dense areas where your car is likely to get dinged by some jerk who opens their door into your car.

loloquwowndueo 3y ago
> Most of the efforts to improve walkability makes it impossible to find parking when you are driving Most of the efforts to improve driveability make it impossible to walk anywhere.
- the_snooze 3y ago
  Exactly. There isn't a place that's simultaneously nice for drivers and nice for everyone else. A space for cars necessarily reduces value, safety, and comfort for humans outside cars.
- specialist 3y ago
  Most efforts to improve drivability also worsen drivability.
epistasis 3y ago
99% of development over the past half century has been focused on making it optimal for driving, at the expense of the ~20% of people that can not even drive. And this wasn't because the market decided to do that, it's all been mandated by law. I think it's good to have a diversity of types of development. Just as people who don't want to drive shouldn't expect access to car-dependent environments to be easy, people in cars shouldn't expect the very few pockets of hard-won walkable environments to be optimal for driving into.
cassepipe 3y ago
I get that you like your way of life (and that you are probably not given credible alternatives in your city) but please do consider the environmental and social costs of such a way of life: A car centric life is not sustainable for the planet. You've probably seen that propaganda around here but in case you missed it, here is some documentation : https://www.strongtowns.org/ https://www.strongtowns.org/
- verve_rat 3y ago
  >A car centric life is not sustainable for the planet. How so? If we waved a magic wand and all cars became EVs powered by renewable energy, what would be unsustainable?
  - matsemann 3y ago
    We have mostly EVs sold in Norway the last few years. It's not been so great: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23939076/norway-electric-vehicle-cars-evs-tesla-oslo https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23939076/norway-electric-...
    - yCombLinks 3y ago
      The problems in this article seem to all stem from excessive subsidies for EVs causing cars to become more widespread. That's far different than in the US where cars already dominate all infrastructure. Here, a transition from ICE to EVs would be way better and more realistic.
  - jamil7 3y ago
    The fact that they’re still vastly less efficient than mass public transport, bikes or just walking.
    - JoshTriplett 3y ago
      I'd love to see public transit that can go from arbitrary-point to arbitrary-point door to door in the same amount of time as a hailed EV could. I genuinely really would. I've never seen a proposal for such a system, only proposals that are less time-efficient than that.
underlipton 3y ago
Good. America has over-invested in cars and car infrastructure, to the detriment of many other more deserving investments. We're upside down on our priorities when it costs a few bucks to park on land worth a few million dollars and when skilled laborers are living off of insurance payouts to fix superficial dings and dents (instead of, say, fixing failing bridges).
- wirrbel 3y ago
  That investment was done to a degree that upkeep is to expensive nowadays.
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    Sounds more like a white elephant than an investment. Investments are supposed to yield returns much greater than the initial cost, not cost you a fortune in continuing maintenance.
pengaru 3y ago
IME there's usually a paid option where demand for parking exists where there are no/few free options. Your complaint is usually implicitly about a lack of free parking. Folks who insist on bringing their cars to town for dinner can foot the storage bill at a lot/garage down the street IMHO.
matsemann 3y ago
> where you either have to pay a fortune to park That's a good thing. Cheap or free parking is just a subsidy on car usage.
yardie 3y ago
> have to pay a fortune to park The free market is telling you something.

loloquwowndueo 3y ago

> Most of the efforts to improve walkability makes it impossible to find parking when you are driving Most of the efforts to improve driveability make it impossible to walk anywhere.

the_snooze 3y ago
Exactly. There isn't a place that's simultaneously nice for drivers and nice for everyone else. A space for cars necessarily reduces value, safety, and comfort for humans outside cars.
specialist 3y ago
Most efforts to improve drivability also worsen drivability.

epistasis 3y ago

99% of development over the past half century has been focused on making it optimal for driving, at the expense of the ~20% of people that can not even drive. And this wasn't because the market decided to do that, it's all been mandated by law. I think it's good to have a diversity of types of development. Just as people who don't want to drive shouldn't expect access to car-dependent environments to be easy, people in cars shouldn't expect the very few pockets of hard-won walkable environments to be optimal for driving into.

cassepipe 3y ago

I get that you like your way of life (and that you are probably not given credible alternatives in your city) but please do consider the environmental and social costs of such a way of life: A car centric life is not sustainable for the planet. You've probably seen that propaganda around here but in case you missed it, here is some documentation : https://www.strongtowns.org/ https://www.strongtowns.org/

verve_rat 3y ago
>A car centric life is not sustainable for the planet. How so? If we waved a magic wand and all cars became EVs powered by renewable energy, what would be unsustainable?
- matsemann 3y ago
  We have mostly EVs sold in Norway the last few years. It's not been so great: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23939076/norway-electric-vehicle-cars-evs-tesla-oslo https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23939076/norway-electric-...
  - yCombLinks 3y ago
    The problems in this article seem to all stem from excessive subsidies for EVs causing cars to become more widespread. That's far different than in the US where cars already dominate all infrastructure. Here, a transition from ICE to EVs would be way better and more realistic.
- jamil7 3y ago
  The fact that they’re still vastly less efficient than mass public transport, bikes or just walking.
  - JoshTriplett 3y ago
    I'd love to see public transit that can go from arbitrary-point to arbitrary-point door to door in the same amount of time as a hailed EV could. I genuinely really would. I've never seen a proposal for such a system, only proposals that are less time-efficient than that.

underlipton 3y ago

Good. America has over-invested in cars and car infrastructure, to the detriment of many other more deserving investments. We're upside down on our priorities when it costs a few bucks to park on land worth a few million dollars and when skilled laborers are living off of insurance payouts to fix superficial dings and dents (instead of, say, fixing failing bridges).

wirrbel 3y ago
That investment was done to a degree that upkeep is to expensive nowadays.
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  Sounds more like a white elephant than an investment. Investments are supposed to yield returns much greater than the initial cost, not cost you a fortune in continuing maintenance.

pengaru 3y ago

IME there's usually a paid option where demand for parking exists where there are no/few free options. Your complaint is usually implicitly about a lack of free parking. Folks who insist on bringing their cars to town for dinner can foot the storage bill at a lot/garage down the street IMHO.

matsemann 3y ago

> where you either have to pay a fortune to park That's a good thing. Cheap or free parking is just a subsidy on car usage.

yardie 3y ago

> have to pay a fortune to park The free market is telling you something.