12 ms·

I hope actually that Americans learn to drive less, not more, as a result of these sorts of changes in the market. It always amuses me that a majority of Ameri

I hope actually that Americans learn to drive less, not more, as a result of these sorts of changes in the market. It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road. For all the pleasures of the free and the brave, they love their little cages..

jchrisa 13y ago
It's self-driving cars that will finally make people feel safe walking to get places again. Electric cars will make that choice more pleasant for reasons of sound and smell. I agree, the trend is toward unwinding the prisoner's dilemma of car dependence, and more people walking means more people feel safe walking. Self driving cars could make car share super practical, which means fewer cars overall. That plus more and more people working from home, to me means the future has a chance to be alright.
ssmoot 13y ago
There's no quick way to get from Dallas to Houston, Austin or San Antonio. Taking Southwest will take just about as long and then you won't have a car on the other end. There's no rail (that I'm aware of) to make those trips convenient or cost effective either. On top of all of that it would be cheaper to drive an electric vehicle than any of the other options. Going on family vacation to Chicago we take Amtrak. Which is really nice/relaxing. But it's not the fastest and far from the cheapest way to travel for a family of four. I'll be pretty pumped for the day the I-45 corridor to Houston gets a few DC quick-chargers and I can drive the Leaf to visit family in Galveston.
- jccooper 13y ago
  Houston to Dallas via Amtrak is possible. It's also about 20 hours and $70. And leaves once a day. Sure, you say, that's because there's no direct route. True. San Antonio's better: 5 hours and $34. Still leaves once a day. At 7pm.
doughj3 13y ago
Have you considered that some people do feel free when driving their cars?
- fit2rule 13y ago
  Its a fallacy. There is no greater enslavement than petroleum, my friend.
  - matthewmcg 13y ago
    Obligatory: http://simpsonsgifs.tumblr.com/post/596042619/it-sounds-like-youre-working-for-your-car http://simpsonsgifs.tumblr.com/post/596042619/it-sounds-like...
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
bluthru 13y ago
Why would electric cars change that? Density is how you remove reliance on the car.
base698 13y ago
After moving to California 3 years ago I've seen stretches of Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and of course California I'd never have seen without a car. Gotten to go to places impractical with any other transportation. I can't really imagine not having a car for my weekend trips. I get not wanting to stay in a car for 40 minutes each way on a weekly commute, but being trapped in a city like LA or San Francisco with no access to the boundless natural beauty and adventure would cause me to go nuts. Hipster coffee shops and artisanal food only do so much for my sanity.
- fit2rule 13y ago
  I'm not saying you shouldn't drive your car everywhere. I am saying, you shouldn't be doing it every day. That, right there, is one of the unhealthiest lifestyles, for everyone. The average American spends an hour a day in their car. This number changes over the years, of course, but generally Americans spend a large portion of their lives, consuming gas. Its just built into the nations life-lines at this point. Weekend trips with the car would be great! Alas, thats not how America uses its cars ..
  - josefresco 13y ago
    Can you share the source for the data on how much time the average American spends in a car?
    - ricardobeat 13y ago
      A quick google search points to an even higher average (101 minutes), in 2006: https://web.archive.org/web/20100526113417/http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/drscherger/men-moderate-exercis-3815 https://web.archive.org/web/20100526113417/http://www.revolu...
  - reckoner13 13y ago
    The thing is the infrastructure has been long established where the transition to more commuters using public transit is going to take a long time. In LA, they are putting in more public transit options, but the reality is most people commute too long of distances to their jobs for it to be practical to utilize it. So, these options will only be practical for a small population. Otherwise, your options are: 1) Drive an hour in traffic or 2) Spend 3+ hours on public transit (but in a cramped bus). What's your pick for the daily? This also limits your freedom (yep I said it.) to get groceries or do other errands with the little time you have after work which would add additional time to your commute. Are you American? Your perspective seems a little overgeneralized than reality. Don't get me wrong gas consumption is certainly an issue here. Hopefully Tesla drives the auto industry in the right direction.
smackfu 13y ago
>It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road. Exactly how long do you think most people's commutes are???
Zikes 13y ago
You really have no idea what it's like in America, do you? We don't have high-speed rail, and public transit is reserved for only the most densely-populated cities. We don't drive because we want to, or because we're stubborn, or because we don't know any better. We drive because for all intents and purposes it is the only reasonable method for getting from point A to point B. But don't worry, I'm sure you've still got plenty of other reasons to feel smugly superior.
- revelation 13y ago
  Gee, how did this happen? I always find this line of thought amusing. It's like people just woke up one day to the America we have now and then pretend its forever. Distances aren't big because "but America is so big!", they are because cheap gas enabled people to live hours away from their place of work or everyday infrastructure in some suburb. If we would properly price gasoline for the collective damage its consumption causes, this nonsense would disappear tomorrow (and Teslas would be sold out, because you know, they have none of these problems).
  - Zikes 13y ago
    Distances aren't big because gas is/was cheap, they're big because nobody wants to pay $2,000/month for a crappy one-bedroom apartment within biking distance of their job. Distances ARE big because America is so big, and even now there's still plenty of land to be cheaply bought and decently priced housing built upon. For the past decade everyone's been balking at the rising gas prices, and so far as I know no two places have magically become closer together as a result.
    - thrownaway2424 13y ago
      Yeah, nobody wants to live in those apartments, that's why the rents are so high!
      - Zikes 13y ago
        Nobody, with a ±1% margin of error.
chaz 13y ago
Lots of Americans drive around great distance, but for commutes, it's shorter than average. More public transportation would be great but not always economically viable. > According to organization’s time use data, the average commuting time in the United States is about 28 minutes (similar to a separate measure from the United States Census Bureau). That is 10 minutes shorter than the average commuting time for all member countries, of 38 minutes, and longer than the time spent traveling to work in only three rich countries (Israel, Denmark and Sweden). http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/world-of-commuters/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/world-of-commut...

jchrisa 13y ago

It's self-driving cars that will finally make people feel safe walking to get places again. Electric cars will make that choice more pleasant for reasons of sound and smell. I agree, the trend is toward unwinding the prisoner's dilemma of car dependence, and more people walking means more people feel safe walking. Self driving cars could make car share super practical, which means fewer cars overall. That plus more and more people working from home, to me means the future has a chance to be alright.

ssmoot 13y ago

There's no quick way to get from Dallas to Houston, Austin or San Antonio. Taking Southwest will take just about as long and then you won't have a car on the other end. There's no rail (that I'm aware of) to make those trips convenient or cost effective either. On top of all of that it would be cheaper to drive an electric vehicle than any of the other options. Going on family vacation to Chicago we take Amtrak. Which is really nice/relaxing. But it's not the fastest and far from the cheapest way to travel for a family of four. I'll be pretty pumped for the day the I-45 corridor to Houston gets a few DC quick-chargers and I can drive the Leaf to visit family in Galveston.

jccooper 13y ago
Houston to Dallas via Amtrak is possible. It's also about 20 hours and $70. And leaves once a day. Sure, you say, that's because there's no direct route. True. San Antonio's better: 5 hours and $34. Still leaves once a day. At 7pm.

doughj3 13y ago

Have you considered that some people do feel free when driving their cars?

fit2rule 13y ago
Its a fallacy. There is no greater enslavement than petroleum, my friend.
- matthewmcg 13y ago
  Obligatory: http://simpsonsgifs.tumblr.com/post/596042619/it-sounds-like-youre-working-for-your-car http://simpsonsgifs.tumblr.com/post/596042619/it-sounds-like...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

bluthru 13y ago

Why would electric cars change that? Density is how you remove reliance on the car.

base698 13y ago

After moving to California 3 years ago I've seen stretches of Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and of course California I'd never have seen without a car. Gotten to go to places impractical with any other transportation. I can't really imagine not having a car for my weekend trips. I get not wanting to stay in a car for 40 minutes each way on a weekly commute, but being trapped in a city like LA or San Francisco with no access to the boundless natural beauty and adventure would cause me to go nuts. Hipster coffee shops and artisanal food only do so much for my sanity.

fit2rule 13y ago
I'm not saying you shouldn't drive your car everywhere. I am saying, you shouldn't be doing it every day. That, right there, is one of the unhealthiest lifestyles, for everyone. The average American spends an hour a day in their car. This number changes over the years, of course, but generally Americans spend a large portion of their lives, consuming gas. Its just built into the nations life-lines at this point. Weekend trips with the car would be great! Alas, thats not how America uses its cars ..
- josefresco 13y ago
  Can you share the source for the data on how much time the average American spends in a car?
  - ricardobeat 13y ago
    A quick google search points to an even higher average (101 minutes), in 2006: https://web.archive.org/web/20100526113417/http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/drscherger/men-moderate-exercis-3815 https://web.archive.org/web/20100526113417/http://www.revolu...
- reckoner13 13y ago
  The thing is the infrastructure has been long established where the transition to more commuters using public transit is going to take a long time. In LA, they are putting in more public transit options, but the reality is most people commute too long of distances to their jobs for it to be practical to utilize it. So, these options will only be practical for a small population. Otherwise, your options are: 1) Drive an hour in traffic or 2) Spend 3+ hours on public transit (but in a cramped bus). What's your pick for the daily? This also limits your freedom (yep I said it.) to get groceries or do other errands with the little time you have after work which would add additional time to your commute. Are you American? Your perspective seems a little overgeneralized than reality. Don't get me wrong gas consumption is certainly an issue here. Hopefully Tesla drives the auto industry in the right direction.

smackfu 13y ago

>It always amuses me that a majority of American life is lived on the road. Exactly how long do you think most people's commutes are???

Zikes 13y ago

You really have no idea what it's like in America, do you? We don't have high-speed rail, and public transit is reserved for only the most densely-populated cities. We don't drive because we want to, or because we're stubborn, or because we don't know any better. We drive because for all intents and purposes it is the only reasonable method for getting from point A to point B. But don't worry, I'm sure you've still got plenty of other reasons to feel smugly superior.

revelation 13y ago
Gee, how did this happen? I always find this line of thought amusing. It's like people just woke up one day to the America we have now and then pretend its forever. Distances aren't big because "but America is so big!", they are because cheap gas enabled people to live hours away from their place of work or everyday infrastructure in some suburb. If we would properly price gasoline for the collective damage its consumption causes, this nonsense would disappear tomorrow (and Teslas would be sold out, because you know, they have none of these problems).
- Zikes 13y ago
  Distances aren't big because gas is/was cheap, they're big because nobody wants to pay $2,000/month for a crappy one-bedroom apartment within biking distance of their job. Distances ARE big because America is so big, and even now there's still plenty of land to be cheaply bought and decently priced housing built upon. For the past decade everyone's been balking at the rising gas prices, and so far as I know no two places have magically become closer together as a result.
  - thrownaway2424 13y ago
    Yeah, nobody wants to live in those apartments, that's why the rents are so high!
    - Zikes 13y ago
      Nobody, with a ±1% margin of error.

chaz 13y ago

Lots of Americans drive around great distance, but for commutes, it's shorter than average. More public transportation would be great but not always economically viable. > According to organization’s time use data, the average commuting time in the United States is about 28 minutes (similar to a separate measure from the United States Census Bureau). That is 10 minutes shorter than the average commuting time for all member countries, of 38 minutes, and longer than the time spent traveling to work in only three rich countries (Israel, Denmark and Sweden). http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/world-of-commuters/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/world-of-commut...