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Cars are still often used as a sign of conspicuous consumption, especially among older people who came of age back in the "car era" (the '50s/'60s, when there w

Cars are still often used as a sign of conspicuous consumption, especially among older people who came of age back in the "car era" (the '50s/'60s, when there was an overwhelming sense of the automobile as the "glorious future" of transportation, and before the many problems of mass car usage were clear)—and older people tend to be richer/more influential. So you get a disproportionate amount of car use by rich/influential people (including many politicians), and they have far more effect on public policy than the average person. Even if the right thing overall is to restrict automobile usage, any politician has to be very careful how he introduces such policies lest he quickly feel the wrath of the well-connected...

wavefunction 13y ago
There's also things like commercial deliveries, where putting a pallet on your back or trying to fit it on a bike is... unrealistic.
- deleted 13y ago
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- snogglethorpe 13y ago
  One needn't entirely eliminate all vehicle access, simply make it difficult or restricted, and make the bulk of the physical fabric pedestrian-oriented. Only rare trunk roads should be wide/"fast" roads. E.g., a narrow one-lane local road fronted by stores can be 99% pedestrian during the day, but allow small vans to resupply shops during the night. Many roads around here are clearly pedestrian, but car access isn't specifically banned... it's simply that nobody in their right mind drives there most of the time, because pedestrians don't make any particular effort to move out of the way, meaning a car has to drive extremely slowly. [And don't underestimate what you can do with other vehicles... Package deliveries here use a full range of vehicles, from big trucks, to small trucks, to motorbikes, to bicycles pulling giant trailers, to bicycles with big baskets, to guys running down the street with a box in their hand; the sheer amount of stuff a bicycle with a giant trailer can move is quite impressive...]
- malandrew 13y ago
  You'd be amazed at how much can be delivered by bike. Go to Brazil and you'll see tons of things being delivered by bike in cities, things like 5-gallon water bottles, Propane tanks, supermarket shopping, etc.
cafard 13y ago
Cars are often still used as a method of transportation, especially among people whose life or work happens to fall outside a few dozen cities with dense population and work and stores one can walk to. That guy living in Leader Heights, Pennsylvania, isn't driving from sheer cussedness, he's driving because work is in York, or maybe Shrewsbury or Baltimore, and because the supermarket is five miles away. If he were richer and more influential, he wouldn't be in Leader Heights, he'd be in Baltimore or Philadelphia.
JabavuAdams 13y ago
Cars ar comfortable. There's an aspect of control of personal space that you don't get on public transportation. I've used public transit almost my whole life, but recently I'm becoming seduced by those evil cars. If I take the subway during rush hour, I can barely get enough space to read an iPad. If I don't travel during rush hour, I don't have dinner with my family.

wavefunction 13y ago

There's also things like commercial deliveries, where putting a pallet on your back or trying to fit it on a bike is... unrealistic.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
snogglethorpe 13y ago
One needn't entirely eliminate all vehicle access, simply make it difficult or restricted, and make the bulk of the physical fabric pedestrian-oriented. Only rare trunk roads should be wide/"fast" roads. E.g., a narrow one-lane local road fronted by stores can be 99% pedestrian during the day, but allow small vans to resupply shops during the night. Many roads around here are clearly pedestrian, but car access isn't specifically banned... it's simply that nobody in their right mind drives there most of the time, because pedestrians don't make any particular effort to move out of the way, meaning a car has to drive extremely slowly. [And don't underestimate what you can do with other vehicles... Package deliveries here use a full range of vehicles, from big trucks, to small trucks, to motorbikes, to bicycles pulling giant trailers, to bicycles with big baskets, to guys running down the street with a box in their hand; the sheer amount of stuff a bicycle with a giant trailer can move is quite impressive...]
malandrew 13y ago
You'd be amazed at how much can be delivered by bike. Go to Brazil and you'll see tons of things being delivered by bike in cities, things like 5-gallon water bottles, Propane tanks, supermarket shopping, etc.

cafard 13y ago

Cars are often still used as a method of transportation, especially among people whose life or work happens to fall outside a few dozen cities with dense population and work and stores one can walk to. That guy living in Leader Heights, Pennsylvania, isn't driving from sheer cussedness, he's driving because work is in York, or maybe Shrewsbury or Baltimore, and because the supermarket is five miles away. If he were richer and more influential, he wouldn't be in Leader Heights, he'd be in Baltimore or Philadelphia.

JabavuAdams 13y ago

Cars ar comfortable. There's an aspect of control of personal space that you don't get on public transportation. I've used public transit almost my whole life, but recently I'm becoming seduced by those evil cars. If I take the subway during rush hour, I can barely get enough space to read an iPad. If I don't travel during rush hour, I don't have dinner with my family.