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Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

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Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#71

Post by 549362-30499 »

alkonaut wrote: post #2

Another one of those things I have to come to HN and read about the US situation in order to reflect on the situation at home. I never even considered a situation where I’d be ”trapped” at home. It works like this: If you aren’t fit to walk to a bus stop, you get tax subsidized taxi (think it’s about 70 or 80% subsidized).

We have this system in Boston and it works alright (it's called "The RIDE"). Boston doesn't have great transit by European standards, but it's still better than pretty much everywhere in the U.S. except for New York. It's always crazy to me to read these transit threads and see so many people who can't comprehend a day to day life that doesn't involve owning a car!

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#72

Post by cmurf »

ars wrote: post #6
xversilov wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard for a non-American to appreciate just how different their urban environments are compared to the US, and vice versa. It was certainly a shock to me when I first arrived to the USA... "Why is everything so far away? Why does every building have a bunch of empty space around it? (i.e. mandated setbacks)" etc. The lack of real cities is probably my least favorite thing about the USA.

And it's one of my favorite things about the USA. I hate dense European style cities. Different people like different things. The nice thing about the USA is you can pick. You can live anywhere from a remote farm to a dense apartment.

It's hugely wasteful and ultimately not affordable, to build out such massive infrastructure that then needs to be maintained with taxes. Most cities have extracted the initial funding for this infrastructure: roads, water, sewage, storm drainage, sidewalks, overhead or underground cables from the developer. But the tax base can't really support that beyond the initial life for that infrastructure without raising revenue. All city and county fees, taxes, and fines all inevitably go up and quality of infrastructure still goes down.

And that's in cities. Extend it out to podunk and they have to be subsidized, even when they don't know that's what's happening. And it's getting bad enough many counties in the U.S. have started to revert paved county roads back into gravel because they simply don't have the money to maintain the paving. They're worse full of pot holes than gravel. And the locals don't want to pay their fair share which might mean a dozen families sharing 50 miles of road - it's the exact opposite of economies of scale. Their incomes obviously have not kept up with the cost of even maintaining local roads... but there's no market force that's really correcting for this either.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#73

Post by 549362-30499 »

ars wrote: post #6
xversilov wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard for a non-American to appreciate just how different their urban environments are compared to the US, and vice versa. It was certainly a shock to me when I first arrived to the USA... "Why is everything so far away? Why does every building have a bunch of empty space around it? (i.e. mandated setbacks)" etc. The lack of real cities is probably my least favorite thing about the USA.

And it's one of my favorite things about the USA. I hate dense European style cities. Different people like different things. The nice thing about the USA is you can pick. You can live anywhere from a remote farm to a dense apartment.

Maybe your favorite thing. As a urban dweller, I'm a little fed up by subsidizing people living rural lifestyles only to see them have (in some cases) 4 times as powerful a vote as my own. I suspect that if we removed the federal interstate subsidies, farm subsidies, internet subsidies, etc. your lifestyle would not be self sufficient.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#74

Post by wvenable »

pbnjay wrote: post #69

On the one hand, I don't want this to happen to me either (but I'm more likely to retire somewhere accessible than the suburbs). But on the other, this whole situation just screams entitlement. They'd rather stay in their houses with all of their stuff, which even their own kids don't want [1]. Just imagine if they would actually move out of their houses: it would open up more housing, making it more affordable to ne…

I agree with your sentiments here but the other perspective is that you've worked your entire life, saved up, built up a wonderful home with all your belongings and now at the end of your life you have to give up everything you've worked for. Possibly your home is one of the few things that give you comfort and peace.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#75

Post by dragontamer »

lgas wrote: post #60
jseliger wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people push for rail Visit Japan (or these days China) and you will understand. This reminds me of people who say, "What's the big deal about electric bikes?" Ride one and you'll know. See what Japan and China are doing WRT rail and you'll know.

Given the difficulty and expense associated with going to Japan, perhaps you could describe it to us here using words.

You pretty much can get anywhere in Japan using rail / subway alone.

https://www.japan-guide.com/g17/2361_01.png

Subway maps cover cities to insane details.

https://bento.com/pix/subway/tokyo_subway_1700.gif

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#76

Post by asr »

lgas wrote: post #60
jseliger wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people push for rail Visit Japan (or these days China) and you will understand. This reminds me of people who say, "What's the big deal about electric bikes?" Ride one and you'll know. See what Japan and China are doing WRT rail and you'll know.

Given the difficulty and expense associated with going to Japan, perhaps you could describe it to us here using words.

Given the wealth of information available on the internet, I would suggest a google search:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=experiences+with+high+speed+rail+in+jap...

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#77

Post by sevensor »

sjg007 wrote: post #70
sevensor wrote: post #67

My 96-year-old grandmother has macular degeneration in her eyes and neuropathy reducing sensation in her feet. She can neither see the road very well nor feel the pedals accurately. The state of Florida just renewed her license for six more years. I'd say it's irresponsible of her to keep up the license, except she has no options. The town she's in recently made it illegal for residents of her park to drive their ele…

There should be county sponsored transportation for medical appointments. Also it seems uber could work?

> There should be county sponsored transportation for medical appointments.

How's your experience been with that kind of service? There's a reason lawbreaking octogenarians still ride golf carts down the sidewalk to get to the doctor's office, hoping they won't get ticketed.

> Uber.

I'm sorry. Did I mention my grandmother is 96? Ninety-six?

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#79

Post by virmundi »

sjg007 wrote: post #70
sevensor wrote: post #67

My 96-year-old grandmother has macular degeneration in her eyes and neuropathy reducing sensation in her feet. She can neither see the road very well nor feel the pedals accurately. The state of Florida just renewed her license for six more years. I'd say it's irresponsible of her to keep up the license, except she has no options. The town she's in recently made it illegal for residents of her park to drive their ele…

There should be county sponsored transportation for medical appointments. Also it seems uber could work?

Historically churches and other community groups, including the Masons, would help in this regard. It appears as if this gone now. For example, black churches use to have get out the vote buses that helped people register. They would work with their paritioners and the large community to make sure that people could get to DMVs or wherever the locality required people to sign up. It appears like that is largely gone. Masonry and church attendance are on the wane. The government as god seems to have grown in its place. Unfortunately, many of the new adherents don't understand community nor civics. It will be interesting to see what happens as millennials gain more power.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#80

Post by sevensor »

pbnjay wrote: post #69

On the one hand, I don't want this to happen to me either (but I'm more likely to retire somewhere accessible than the suburbs). But on the other, this whole situation just screams entitlement. They'd rather stay in their houses with all of their stuff, which even their own kids don't want [1]. Just imagine if they would actually move out of their houses: it would open up more housing, making it more affordable to ne…

> They'd rather stay in their houses with all of their stuff

Or they're old and poor, have little more than a house to their name, and the alternative is indifferent care by bottom-feeding nursing homes.

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