- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
cross-posted from: https://quokk.au/c/fuckcars/p/550765/meme-choochoo
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I want a self-driving car that doesn’t require parking, doesn’t spread microplastics, has dedicated lane so doesn’t get stuck in traffic, has power lines so doesn’t need batteries, and can efficiently fit and transport me and my friends. Also it’s good to make it bigger and share the costs with other passengers to make sure everyone can benefit from my awesome super duper car design. Since we are sharing it with many people, it would be nice if it just kept operating in regular, reliable hours so I can hop on and off when I need it.
Yeah but it’s not good for “thE eCOnOMy”:
An efficient system just has fewer cracks to jam in rent-seeking, regulatory capture, artificial needs, fomo, hype, subscription service tiers, monopolies, service-services, gig indirections, consultants, charlatan management, etc.
You still can do that in an efficient system, but you can fit - like - five parasites there instead of five hundred.
Don’t forget the main selling point of car traffic; it goes directly from my door to my exact destination, and …and this is the big one…i don’t have to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with, or listen to, or smell the cloying stink of neaeby random strangers for the entire trip. make public transport have that, as well as the punctuality and better last-mile coverage, and it will be a sure winner.
Eh. You just sound anti-social. Maybe move somewhere else or go to therapy.
I’m not sure that door-to-door thing really is a main selling point. I know people who walk to their car farther than to the next public transport station and complain about seeking longer for parking spots than it would take them to walk to the station or from the station to their workplace.
If you’re driving to anywhere that’s not in the densest part of cities, it’s absolutely a main selling point.
Dunno, here in Germany, the cities’ outskirts are usually kinda well connected, too. And even in the suburban village I grew up in, it took you at max ten minutes by bike to get to the train station. Nowadays with e-scooters you don’t even have to use your muscles for that part either.
I haven’t been to Germany but based on what I know of it (and other European countries), your suburbs are a very different beast from ours. We have a level of urban sprawl in North America that most Europeans would have to see to believe. Its simply designed to move and park as many cars as possible, with human comfort as an afterthought.
Yes, I know that. However, that is not really about my point. I doubt that “door-to-door” comfortability is a main selling point for cars because I personally know some and have heart from even more people who put more effort in driving and parking cars than it would take to go the same ways by (e-)bike, scooter or public transport. That may result in searching a longer time for parking spots that it would to get to the next station, walking further to or from a parked car than to a station, spending more time in traffic jams than it would to travel by other means of transportation, defrosting windows and removing snow during winter, paying huge amounts for parking spots etc pp.
That does not mean that there are no people for whom “door-to-door” is a factor or that all people live well connected to public transport or bikeway infrastructure (especially outside of european cities), it just means that there are too many people putting in efforts to go by car that would be unnecessary if they chose another method to go from A to B for me to accept that “door-to-door” is a main factor when deciding the means of transportaition.
Or in other words: I think many people would still choose a car if they had a bus stop in front of their home and the bus line had a stop in front of their workplace.I suppose there are so few walkable places in my country that most of the people who live in them are there on purpose and thus won’t engage in this strange behavior.
Well, from my experience as a european big city dweller, that is not a behavior exclusive to areas with low walkability. Which is what lead me to my point.
Good point: lack of density is yet another negative byproduct of car-first infrastructure.
Is this sarcasm or are you just extremely self-centered?
I’m not sure i understand why hating being in close proximity with random strangers is self-centered…I assume they feel the exact same way.
It’s the implication that your marginal convenience and comfort are more important than all the damage that car-centric infrastructure causes to the poor, those who can’t drive, the environment, our cities, etc. That’s what makes you self-centered.
EDIT: And by the way, humans are social creatures by nature - we don’t all hate being in close proximity with random strangers. In fact, in the context of an urban area, I’d argue that many of the people who do feel that way are probably suffering from the psychological damage of growing up in a suburb.
I don’t even have a car anymore, I take the bus/train every single day to/from work and it fucking sucks…but it’s much cheaper, so that’s what I have to do.
Yes, it sucks being carless in a car-dependent place. That’s exactly my point.
However, I apologize for insulting you. I don’t know you or your experience and I jumped to a lot of conclusions in my previous comments.
What I’m trying to say is that the reason your bus/train commute sucks isn’t that it’s a bus/train. It’s that, at least in a lot of cities, the only people who ride the bus/train are those who can’t afford a car. Which means several things:
- Transit is underfunded
- Transit has incomplete coverage
- Entire human settlements are built without any concern for people who don’t have a car
- Cities are designed to allow maximum car throughput and parking, which inherently makes other forms of transportation worse
Your very lived experience is exactly a consequence of car-centric design, and a laser-like focus on self-driving cars will only perpetuate that design philosophy.
In competently designed cities, the doors are made to be a reasonable walking distance from transport stops and hubs.
On my bus this morning there were about 10-15 people, mix of parents with children, two elderly folks, students, young and middle aged adults with plenty of open seating since this is a local bus on a well used express route. The buses and stations are clean even if some users aren’t as well-kept, and if people playing Tiktok on speaker is too annoying you can tell them or listen to your own soundtrack with earbuds.
I want more competently designed cities in North America!
EDIT: Also, you’re getting downvoted for this statement? Did some Truth Social members somehow end up in this thread?
What is an automated train but a self driving car that is confined to one route?
Public, for one
You basically want to move to Japan, or South Korea, or Germany, of any of the countries with a competent public transit system.
I see you’ve never been to Germany
Its all relative. For us Americans, Germany (and most of the rest of Europe) is a transit paradise.
To be fair, compared to the “transit system” in most American cities, any place that has transit at all would be considered competent.
Zugbindung aufgehoben
It really doesn’t get old. Over 10 year ago I moved into proper inner city Stockholm, and seeing a BLUE bus pass outside my kitchen window every 10 or so minutes still makes me smile every time.
[comment] choochooo
Autonomous vehicles would be a huge imorovement for “last mile” transport. People don’t tend to have train stations in front of their homes.
![[meme] choochoo](https://quokk.au/static/media/posts/8L/4e/8L4eFCNmnx9NzyK.webp){kind=link}