3 ms·

People are in cars. I get it, we like public transport. It's just daft to go all in the other direction and pretend that cars aren't useful or don't count or s

by throwaway22032 2y ago

People are in cars. I get it, we like public transport. It's just daft to go all in the other direction and pretend that cars aren't useful or don't count or something, though.

Johnny555 2y ago
Is there any city that's done that and has completely banned cars to replace with transit? I haven't seen any except in very small pedestrian-only districts. But I've seen a lot of fighting in my city anytime any transit or biking project reduces road space dedicated to cars, even if just removing on-street parking. >People are in cars. All too often, a "person" is in a car, which is a pretty poor use of space.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  Private automobiles and in some cases other motorised vehicles are banned in Mackinac Island, MI, and Halibut Cove, AK, in the US, Giethoorn, Netherlands, and Lamu, Kenya (possibly old town only). And a number of others. Several seem to be vacation spots or resorts, so have unusual usage and aesthetic patterns. <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/16-places-around-the-world-where-cars-are-banned/3MGVNGKRI2WESESY5B6XAUSB3I/ https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/16-places-around-the-world...>
- oopsallmagic 2y ago
  The entirety of the Netherlands used to look like the US in the '60s and '70s, albeit not at Super Sized(TM) scale. Look up their urban design in 2024, it's quite pleasant and human-friendly.
deleted 2y ago
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immibis 2y ago
People don't have to be in cars, and most cities have way more people in cars than necessary.
mlyle 2y ago
Cars are great. I like cars. I like driving as a mode of transport. But there's a lot of potential ways to use space other than cars. The problem is, in seeking to accommodate cars at the expense of all else, we've made all other forms of transport -- like walking through a cute downtown on a spring day -- less practicable and common. In turn we drive more, spread businesses out for more parking, and created a never-ending feedback loop for more driving infrastructure. In turn, the infrastructure has grown to a point that we can't really afford it from tax revenues, and where the mixed use of a thoroughfare for accessing businesses and going long distances does well at neither. Unfortunately, getting us out of this loop is going to make things less convenient for some people for awhile before we can get to something better. There's no avoiding that, but continuing to make the same decision and hope it gets to a better outcome would be nuts.
throw0101b 2y ago
> It's just daft to go all in the other direction and pretend that cars aren't useful or don't count or something, though. Useful for what? More useful than what? Less useful than what? How many people does private car transportation move? How much can a car lane move per hour? How about a bicycle lane? Bus lane? [0] What do private cars interfere with? Goods transportation / delivery perhaps? People's health (through pollution and/or lack of active mobility)? It's not that cars cannot be useful, but are they more or less useful than other options? What does leaning towards cars inhibit? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_per_hour_per_direction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_per_hour_per_direct...
oopsallmagic 2y ago
[flagged]
oopsallmagic 2y ago
[dead]

People are in cars. I get it, we like public transport. It's just daft to go all in the other direction and pretend that cars aren't useful or don't count or something, though.

Johnny555 2y ago

Is there any city that's done that and has completely banned cars to replace with transit? I haven't seen any except in very small pedestrian-only districts. But I've seen a lot of fighting in my city anytime any transit or biking project reduces road space dedicated to cars, even if just removing on-street parking. >People are in cars. All too often, a "person" is in a car, which is a pretty poor use of space.

dredmorbius 2y ago
Private automobiles and in some cases other motorised vehicles are banned in Mackinac Island, MI, and Halibut Cove, AK, in the US, Giethoorn, Netherlands, and Lamu, Kenya (possibly old town only). And a number of others. Several seem to be vacation spots or resorts, so have unusual usage and aesthetic patterns. <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/16-places-around-the-world-where-cars-are-banned/3MGVNGKRI2WESESY5B6XAUSB3I/ https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/16-places-around-the-world...>
oopsallmagic 2y ago
The entirety of the Netherlands used to look like the US in the '60s and '70s, albeit not at Super Sized(TM) scale. Look up their urban design in 2024, it's quite pleasant and human-friendly.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

immibis 2y ago

People don't have to be in cars, and most cities have way more people in cars than necessary.

mlyle 2y ago

Cars are great. I like cars. I like driving as a mode of transport. But there's a lot of potential ways to use space other than cars. The problem is, in seeking to accommodate cars at the expense of all else, we've made all other forms of transport -- like walking through a cute downtown on a spring day -- less practicable and common. In turn we drive more, spread businesses out for more parking, and created a never-ending feedback loop for more driving infrastructure. In turn, the infrastructure has grown to a point that we can't really afford it from tax revenues, and where the mixed use of a thoroughfare for accessing businesses and going long distances does well at neither. Unfortunately, getting us out of this loop is going to make things less convenient for some people for awhile before we can get to something better. There's no avoiding that, but continuing to make the same decision and hope it gets to a better outcome would be nuts.

throw0101b 2y ago

> It's just daft to go all in the other direction and pretend that cars aren't useful or don't count or something, though. Useful for what? More useful than what? Less useful than what? How many people does private car transportation move? How much can a car lane move per hour? How about a bicycle lane? Bus lane? [0] What do private cars interfere with? Goods transportation / delivery perhaps? People's health (through pollution and/or lack of active mobility)? It's not that cars cannot be useful, but are they more or less useful than other options? What does leaning towards cars inhibit? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_per_hour_per_direction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_per_hour_per_direct...

oopsallmagic 2y ago

[flagged]

oopsallmagic 2y ago

[dead]