4 ms·

It's not just millennials: As suburban boomers age, more of them won't be able drive due to health reasons. My hope is that self driving cars and better plannin

It's not just millennials: As suburban boomers age, more of them won't be able drive due to health reasons. My hope is that self driving cars and better planning can help us rethink things.

BrainInAJar 12y ago
We don't need driverless cars, we need carless drivers. Urban densification, not self-driving Ubers.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Never going to happen. Self-driving cars will always be cheaper than rebuilding a non-insignificant amount of the US.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    Growth is geometric. Whatever has come before is the smaller part of what we will need in future. We're always, constantly rebuilding a non-insignificant amount of the US.
    - toomuchtodo 12y ago
      Want to make a long bet? You're counting on enough economic activity in the suburbs to drive the growth needed to revamp urban planning in those areas. With an aging populace in the US, we're hard pressed to pay for our existing obligations, let alone rebuilding communities on a massive scale.
      - ghaff 12y ago
        The article weaves a story out of some incremental light rail in areas where it makes sense. But that's a long way from transforming what suburbs (and even sprawling cities) look like on a broad scale. IMO autonomous vehicles that can really replace car ownership are a long way away but mass transit planning is a long time horizon as well. And if/when they do arrive it's almost inevitable that they'll make driving more attractive, not less.
        toomuchtodo 12y ago
        > IMO autonomous vehicles that can really replace car ownership are a long way away but mass transit planning is a long time horizon as well. And if/when they do arrive it's almost inevitable that they'll make driving more attractive, not less. The problem is that you can approach self driving cars in an incremental way, while light rail is extremely expensive upfront. I don't have time at the moment to go into detail, but look at the Greenlight Proposal in Pinellas County (Florida). It was advertised as a light rail/bus transportation network overhaul, and it was downvoted due to being too expensive (while adding extremely minimal taxes to cover it). http://www.psta.net/plansandreports.php http://www.psta.net/plansandreports.php
  - kansface 12y ago
    I'm not sure you are correct - maintaining suburban infrastructure is a net drain on coffers. However, even if you are right, driverless cars would not do much to stem the new wave of urbanization.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

It's not just millennials: As suburban boomers age, more of them won't be able drive due to health reasons. My hope is that self driving cars and better planning can help us rethink things.

BrainInAJar 12y ago

We don't need driverless cars, we need carless drivers. Urban densification, not self-driving Ubers.

toomuchtodo 12y ago
Never going to happen. Self-driving cars will always be cheaper than rebuilding a non-insignificant amount of the US.
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  Growth is geometric. Whatever has come before is the smaller part of what we will need in future. We're always, constantly rebuilding a non-insignificant amount of the US.
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    Want to make a long bet? You're counting on enough economic activity in the suburbs to drive the growth needed to revamp urban planning in those areas. With an aging populace in the US, we're hard pressed to pay for our existing obligations, let alone rebuilding communities on a massive scale.
    - ghaff 12y ago
      The article weaves a story out of some incremental light rail in areas where it makes sense. But that's a long way from transforming what suburbs (and even sprawling cities) look like on a broad scale. IMO autonomous vehicles that can really replace car ownership are a long way away but mass transit planning is a long time horizon as well. And if/when they do arrive it's almost inevitable that they'll make driving more attractive, not less.
      - toomuchtodo 12y ago
        > IMO autonomous vehicles that can really replace car ownership are a long way away but mass transit planning is a long time horizon as well. And if/when they do arrive it's almost inevitable that they'll make driving more attractive, not less. The problem is that you can approach self driving cars in an incremental way, while light rail is extremely expensive upfront. I don't have time at the moment to go into detail, but look at the Greenlight Proposal in Pinellas County (Florida). It was advertised as a light rail/bus transportation network overhaul, and it was downvoted due to being too expensive (while adding extremely minimal taxes to cover it). http://www.psta.net/plansandreports.php http://www.psta.net/plansandreports.php
- kansface 12y ago
  I'm not sure you are correct - maintaining suburban infrastructure is a net drain on coffers. However, even if you are right, driverless cars would not do much to stem the new wave of urbanization.
deleted 12y ago
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