4 ms·

Pedibus. So civilized. People in California don't believe half the things I tell them about life in Switzerland, such as "if you try to drive your kid to school

by jeffbee 1mo ago

Pedibus. So civilized. People in California don't believe half the things I tell them about life in Switzerland, such as "if you try to drive your kid to school the cops will chastise you" and "if you drive 40 in a school zone you'll automatically get a year in jail" and, of course, "gas is nine bucks".

teekert 1mo ago
The US is extremely car focused, which they often don't really realize. Things that are normal here (like everybody has a bike) conflicts with their cyclers vs drivers culture. Such a distinction simply does not exist here. Instead we have roads that are red with signs "Cars are guests". Or indeed city centers where cars aren't allowed. When I go to the US I'm often surprised that you can't get to things that are only a km away by foot because a road is blocking you, no way to cross it.
- WhatIsDukkha 1mo ago
  The US has very low standards for its lifestyle. We're told we are number ONE in everything but in fact its usually 40 or 20 when you actually go look at things that matter. We never really notice because we think filling a big house in the suburbs with garbage from Costco is living the dream.
  - tedggh 1mo ago
    As a naturalized American who lived in 3 other countries including two in Europe and who travels often all over the world, married to a European, etc I must say the US has its perks and it’s definitely in my top 5 countries to live. I lived mostly in the south and the east coast so I don’t have a full picture of the US as a resident. But it’s the same in Europe, living in Berlin is very different than living in Sicily, even Milan is very different than Sicily being the same country. So to be fair the US should be compared to Europe not to a particular country. The car culture in the US I think is fine because the country is built around it, the interstate system is pretty good and gas is cheap. I do like road trips very much, at my own pace not having to worry about train/flight schedules. In Europe taking long family road trips by car as we do in the US would be prohibited and even stupid in the eyes of many Europeans. I also like that you can talk to Americans everywhere and get to know people. In Europe you start talking to a stranger they look at you like you went crazy. Being social is part of having a good quality of life too, so the US ranks pretty high there.
    - Gud 1mo ago
      So in the beginning of your paragraph you say it's "very different" depending on where you are in Europe, but towards the end, you generalise the entire continent. I travel all over the world for work(Though mostly Europe) and my experience has been that Europe is a very diverse place. Currently outside London where you can absolutely chat with random strangers(I'm from Sweden, so obviously I don't).
      - teekert 1mo ago
        Yeah bit strange remark. Many people I know drive thousands of km for their summer holiday.
    - ahartmetz 1mo ago
      I don't know what you mean with family roadtrips being prohibited? Maybe too expensive, that's all I can think of. Cheap motels are rare and, obviously, fuel is much more expensive. All other necessities are easily available and legal.
    - WhatIsDukkha 1mo ago
      You should start a timer every time you get into the car. For most Americans it might add up to 7-10 hours a week or more. That's a lot even over a few weeks. That's not time walking with your kids or dog sniffing the flowers, that's the opposite.
      - DarmokJalad1701 1mo ago
        > For most Americans it might add up to 7-10 hours a week or more. I live in a major city. It is more like ~4 hours/wk for me. The car drives itself. It is very relaxing. It is my alone time for either thinking or listening to podcasts. I am in a nice air-conditioned, HEPA-filtered cabin and I can be on my own schedule.
    - Hikikomori 1mo ago
      >In Europe taking long family road trips by car as we do in the US would be prohibited and even stupid in the eyes of many Europeans. What?? Caravan or road trip with regular car is a very common vacation in Europe. In France there are tons of free places to stop over the night. In the nordics you can camp anywhere that isn't close to someones house, even on private land. But no I wouldn't take the car instead of a 2-3 hour flight, especially as our cities have excellent public transportation.
- OtomotO 1mo ago
  The last time I was in the US - a couple of decades ago, I admit - people were aghast that we walked to a store just a few hundred meters away. 3 people stopped and asked whether they can drive us somewhere... I mean, super friendly people, but... it's just a few hundred meters, come on! You were the wild west, once!
  - YeGoblynQueenne 1mo ago
    Well, everybody rode their horse everywhere in the Wild West.
  - megagpt1 1mo ago
    This happened to me in Germany. To be fair, I was walking 10km on a rural road with two suitcases and no sidewalk.
  - rainsford 1mo ago
    To be fair, there are an embarrassingly large number of places in the US where safely walking to a store a few hundred meters away would be very difficult at best.
  - chrismorgan 1mo ago
    My mother tells much the same from when we Australians were in Denver for five months in 1996 about walking a kilometre to school. Also mild astonishment at ideas like baking cakes not from a packet mix. Mind you, there weren’t many who would walk to school like that in Australia, and the number has continued to dwindle. But there were some.
- VBprogrammer 1mo ago
  On holiday in the Florida we walked to the gated entrance to the community to ask whether delivery drivers got access or we needed to pick it up at the gate. The way they looked at us, you would think we had two heads for arriving on foot.
  - teekert 1mo ago
    I once walked into a drive through in Texas (Galveston) with a group of scientists there for a conference (because main restaurant was closed), we almost got shot (no not really but people felt very very threatened and threatened us)!
  - mrguyorama 1mo ago
    In Florida gated communities, the standard transportation method is individual overpriced golf karts.
  - FireBeyond 1mo ago
    I got into an argument with a security guard at a gated community who tried to demand we give him a name, address, and "what's going on?" before he'd let us in. Fixed that when I asked if he personally called 911 and when he said no, "So, before we make this a lot more formal, are you understanding that you are now obstructing emergency services personnel in the performance of duty?"
xattt 1mo ago
Our school started a chaperoned bicycle bus, and it’s enabled a number of kids who live 3-5 km away to engage in active transportation once a week that would have otherwise been unable to.
tsunamifury 1mo ago
[flagged]

by jeffbee 1mo ago

teekert 1mo ago

The US is extremely car focused, which they often don't really realize. Things that are normal here (like everybody has a bike) conflicts with their cyclers vs drivers culture. Such a distinction simply does not exist here. Instead we have roads that are red with signs "Cars are guests". Or indeed city centers where cars aren't allowed. When I go to the US I'm often surprised that you can't get to things that are only a km away by foot because a road is blocking you, no way to cross it.

WhatIsDukkha 1mo ago
The US has very low standards for its lifestyle. We're told we are number ONE in everything but in fact its usually 40 or 20 when you actually go look at things that matter. We never really notice because we think filling a big house in the suburbs with garbage from Costco is living the dream.
- tedggh 1mo ago
  As a naturalized American who lived in 3 other countries including two in Europe and who travels often all over the world, married to a European, etc I must say the US has its perks and it’s definitely in my top 5 countries to live. I lived mostly in the south and the east coast so I don’t have a full picture of the US as a resident. But it’s the same in Europe, living in Berlin is very different than living in Sicily, even Milan is very different than Sicily being the same country. So to be fair the US should be compared to Europe not to a particular country. The car culture in the US I think is fine because the country is built around it, the interstate system is pretty good and gas is cheap. I do like road trips very much, at my own pace not having to worry about train/flight schedules. In Europe taking long family road trips by car as we do in the US would be prohibited and even stupid in the eyes of many Europeans. I also like that you can talk to Americans everywhere and get to know people. In Europe you start talking to a stranger they look at you like you went crazy. Being social is part of having a good quality of life too, so the US ranks pretty high there.
  - Gud 1mo ago
    So in the beginning of your paragraph you say it's "very different" depending on where you are in Europe, but towards the end, you generalise the entire continent. I travel all over the world for work(Though mostly Europe) and my experience has been that Europe is a very diverse place. Currently outside London where you can absolutely chat with random strangers(I'm from Sweden, so obviously I don't).
    - teekert 1mo ago
      Yeah bit strange remark. Many people I know drive thousands of km for their summer holiday.
  - ahartmetz 1mo ago
    I don't know what you mean with family roadtrips being prohibited? Maybe too expensive, that's all I can think of. Cheap motels are rare and, obviously, fuel is much more expensive. All other necessities are easily available and legal.
  - WhatIsDukkha 1mo ago
    You should start a timer every time you get into the car. For most Americans it might add up to 7-10 hours a week or more. That's a lot even over a few weeks. That's not time walking with your kids or dog sniffing the flowers, that's the opposite.
    - DarmokJalad1701 1mo ago
      > For most Americans it might add up to 7-10 hours a week or more. I live in a major city. It is more like ~4 hours/wk for me. The car drives itself. It is very relaxing. It is my alone time for either thinking or listening to podcasts. I am in a nice air-conditioned, HEPA-filtered cabin and I can be on my own schedule.
  - Hikikomori 1mo ago
    >In Europe taking long family road trips by car as we do in the US would be prohibited and even stupid in the eyes of many Europeans. What?? Caravan or road trip with regular car is a very common vacation in Europe. In France there are tons of free places to stop over the night. In the nordics you can camp anywhere that isn't close to someones house, even on private land. But no I wouldn't take the car instead of a 2-3 hour flight, especially as our cities have excellent public transportation.
OtomotO 1mo ago
The last time I was in the US - a couple of decades ago, I admit - people were aghast that we walked to a store just a few hundred meters away. 3 people stopped and asked whether they can drive us somewhere... I mean, super friendly people, but... it's just a few hundred meters, come on! You were the wild west, once!
- YeGoblynQueenne 1mo ago
  Well, everybody rode their horse everywhere in the Wild West.
- megagpt1 1mo ago
  This happened to me in Germany. To be fair, I was walking 10km on a rural road with two suitcases and no sidewalk.
- rainsford 1mo ago
  To be fair, there are an embarrassingly large number of places in the US where safely walking to a store a few hundred meters away would be very difficult at best.
- chrismorgan 1mo ago
  My mother tells much the same from when we Australians were in Denver for five months in 1996 about walking a kilometre to school. Also mild astonishment at ideas like baking cakes not from a packet mix. Mind you, there weren’t many who would walk to school like that in Australia, and the number has continued to dwindle. But there were some.
VBprogrammer 1mo ago
On holiday in the Florida we walked to the gated entrance to the community to ask whether delivery drivers got access or we needed to pick it up at the gate. The way they looked at us, you would think we had two heads for arriving on foot.
- teekert 1mo ago
  I once walked into a drive through in Texas (Galveston) with a group of scientists there for a conference (because main restaurant was closed), we almost got shot (no not really but people felt very very threatened and threatened us)!
- mrguyorama 1mo ago
  In Florida gated communities, the standard transportation method is individual overpriced golf karts.
- FireBeyond 1mo ago
  I got into an argument with a security guard at a gated community who tried to demand we give him a name, address, and "what's going on?" before he'd let us in. Fixed that when I asked if he personally called 911 and when he said no, "So, before we make this a lot more formal, are you understanding that you are now obstructing emergency services personnel in the performance of duty?"

xattt 1mo ago

Our school started a chaperoned bicycle bus, and it’s enabled a number of kids who live 3-5 km away to engage in active transportation once a week that would have otherwise been unable to.

tsunamifury 1mo ago

[flagged]