Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

vox.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 324 posts

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

#191

Post by austinjp »

souprock wrote: post #170
adrianN wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an American comment to make. Public transit works in many cities perfectly well and you can use it without fearing for your life, or your wallet. Children in elementary school take public transit unattended.

Well, I'm an American. I might feel differently if I were Japanese. Here, children are driven to school by their parents. When school ends, the parents are there waiting in their cars. Kids mostly don't even play outside anymore. Those of you thinking public transport is fine are likely at least a little bit physically imposing and/or you are in relatively fancy locations.

What a strange land. In the UK, I was using public transport and cycling to school by myself from the age of 16. I'm curious, are there large cities in the USA where this can happen? Are there any significant moves by politicians to wean North Americans off cars?

Conversely, are there large cities in other countries that are similar to the US, where this does not happen? I'm going to suspect the Middle East, due to ubiquitous air-conditioning.

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

#192

Post by ndh2 »

revelation wrote: post #58

That's because prior to being too old to drive, they didn't give a fuck about the public transportation system. Actually, even after being too old to drive, they happily continue to vote against public transportation. It's bizarre to suggest our transportation system is failing them. It's exactly the transportation system they voted for, the transportation system a good bunch of them built, designed, railroaded throu…

The article should be renamed to "Our transportation systems fails the seniors who neglected to build it".

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

#193

Post by majewsky »

souprock wrote: post #173
Qwertious wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the footpath, wouldn't you be unusually vulnerable to crime? Why would you want a service that isn't safe for you? That is how your comment sounds to people who use public transport. It sounds ridiculous .

Are you suggesting that a footpath is safe? My father got mugged at knifepoint on one. That is 100% not acceptable. It is a major reason why normal non-poor people encase themselves in cars. My father wasn't even blind. He was just slightly old, maybe 50 years old. At that age, he could no longer sprint away. The comment might sound ridiculous to the people who voluntarily use public transport, but your sampling bias…

People are downvoting because you're missing the point. The unsafety of the situation is not because of the mode of transport, but because of America's failure to deal with crime.

Here in Germany, crime rates have been declining pretty consistently [1], with homicides and robberies down from "low" to "very low". The thought of getting mugged on the street or on public transit is just absurd to me. I don't know anyone whom it happened to. It's something that happens on CSI, not in real life.

[1] Except for internet-related fraud and Crystal Method abuse (since these are still pretty new), and stuff like unlawful border crossing (because of the refugee situation).

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

#194

Post by majewsky »

dagw wrote: post #176
tim333 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of safety a lot of people die in car crashes, less so on trains and busses.

Saftey in this case doesn't refer to the risk of dying in a crash, but rather the risk of being mugged/robbed or even just harassed.

It's very convenient to exclude everything from the definition that doesn't support your argument.

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

#195

Post by TrickyRick »

souprock wrote: post #170
adrianN wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an American comment to make. Public transit works in many cities perfectly well and you can use it without fearing for your life, or your wallet. Children in elementary school take public transit unattended.

Well, I'm an American. I might feel differently if I were Japanese. Here, children are driven to school by their parents. When school ends, the parents are there waiting in their cars. Kids mostly don't even play outside anymore. Those of you thinking public transport is fine are likely at least a little bit physically imposing and/or you are in relatively fancy locations.

And people wonder why the environment is screwed up...

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

#196

Post by TrickyRick »

sampo wrote: post #175
souprock wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm an American. I might feel differently if I were Japanese. Here, children are driven to school by their parents. When school ends, the parents are there waiting in their cars. Kids mostly don't even play outside anymore. Those of you thinking public transport is fine are likely at least a little bit physically imposing and/or you are in relatively fancy locations.

> Here, children are driven to school by their parents. When school ends, the parents are there waiting in their cars. Do parents get out of their work in the middle of the afternoon to drive their kids from school to home? Do they go back to work for the last couple hours after that? Or do kids have 8-hour schooldays?

It's called housewives, a concept abandoned by most of the modern world.

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

#197

Post by TrickyRick »

souprock wrote: post #173
Qwertious wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the footpath, wouldn't you be unusually vulnerable to crime? Why would you want a service that isn't safe for you? That is how your comment sounds to people who use public transport. It sounds ridiculous .

Are you suggesting that a footpath is safe? My father got mugged at knifepoint on one. That is 100% not acceptable. It is a major reason why normal non-poor people encase themselves in cars. My father wasn't even blind. He was just slightly old, maybe 50 years old. At that age, he could no longer sprint away. The comment might sound ridiculous to the people who voluntarily use public transport, but your sampling bias…

I know several people who have been injured in car accidents through no fault of their own (While being in a car). Wouldn't you want a method of transportation which is safe for you?

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

#198

Post by majewsky »

adrianN wrote: post #154
mschuster91 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why do people push for rail? Because well-done High Speed Rail (HSR) is a blast over long distances. Certainly for city/metro areas a combination of light rail + buses as a web is the best option (light rail having the advantage of running emissions free), but the longer the distances are the better HSR is. The new ICE line Munich-Berlin with 4h one-way is so fast that it's actually threatening flight. Also, travel…

There are electric buses that run emission free. They have the additional benefit of not needing extremely expensive new infrastructure for starting a new line. I think they would work much better in low density settings like American suburbia.

> They have the additional benefit of not needing extremely expensive new infrastructure for starting a new line.

Only because of the sunk cost of building all those interstates. At some point, you're going to need to repair or rebuild them.

Which makes me wonder: What is the cost of a new kilometer of rail vs. a new kilometer of highway? And which one is cheaper to maintain? I don't have any intuition there.

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

#199

Post by austinjp »

souprock wrote: post #173
Qwertious wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the footpath, wouldn't you be unusually vulnerable to crime? Why would you want a service that isn't safe for you? That is how your comment sounds to people who use public transport. It sounds ridiculous .

Are you suggesting that a footpath is safe? My father got mugged at knifepoint on one. That is 100% not acceptable. It is a major reason why normal non-poor people encase themselves in cars. My father wasn't even blind. He was just slightly old, maybe 50 years old. At that age, he could no longer sprint away. The comment might sound ridiculous to the people who voluntarily use public transport, but your sampling bias…

Sorry to hear that your father went through this.

You may care to consider that people get held up in cars, even in their own homes.

If you're really concerned about mugging in public areas, there are basic safety steps that everyone can (should) take. Stick to well lit areas; don't wear headphones; don't use your phone; avoid any situation that doesn't feel right. If possible plan your route. In other words, have your wits about you.

Also, re the non-poor encasing themselves in cars. Crime increases when people perceive an increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots. Does this mean the rich should use footpaths to reduce mugging? Probably not. But it might mean that public transport should get major investment so it's not seen as a shitty option only for the poor. If that's really how it's seen, everyone who has no option but to walk must feel constantly pissed off.

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

#200

Post by erfgh »

dundercoder wrote: post #101

I’m 36, live in the suburbs, and in recent years have gone (legally) blind from Retinitis Pigmentosa. Voluntarily giving up my license was one of the hardest and most important decisions I’ve made. There is literally 0 public transportation here. Not even Uber or Lyft have come around. America’s sprawl and dependence on cars is incredible. It wasn’t until I spent time in London, Oxford, and Paris that I could recogni…

Why is it humiliating? You have a medical condition, stop being a child about it.
Post reply on HN