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How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

citylab.com

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Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#51

Post by c22 »

MarkusAllen wrote: post #15
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope the first HN comment is always a book suggestion. :) I recently got rid of my car after four years of living in a city. I don't know why I held onto it for so long, but my life has improved dramatically. Not only can I go anywhere I want, but I never have to worry about permits, tickets, or parking. This lifestyle can't work for people outside of cities, though. There's no way to get anyplace without a car, an…

In a city, how do you handle buying a socket wrench to fix something in your house? (It sounds like a MAJOR hassle.)

I just use the socket wrench at the community makerspace 5 blocks from my house.

Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#52

Post by boxcardavin »

I started commuting by ebike full time last year and now when I do drive in traffic I notice how crazy my road rage gets. I get so upset at the insanity of sitting in this giant box that is 25x my body weight as I crawl in orderly queues with other people doing the same thing. In a world without cars we could have small EVs (bikes, scooters, pods) that all had no crash safety features and all weighed under 500lbs. Average speeds on freeways around cities are below 30mph these days anyways, why are we doing this still? Anyways, I'm workin on it.

Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#53

Post by sampo »

pdonis wrote: post #9
DoreenMichele wrote: post #5

For one, the geography of car use tracks with income and wealth: Car-dependent places are considerably less affluent. Metros in which a higher share of people depend on their cars to get to work are poorer, and those where more people use transit or bike or walk to work are considerably more affluent. I always hated driving. I gave up my car more than a decade ago. I am happy to see stats like this. In spite of how s…

We don't have to build either a car-centric America or a non-car-centric America. We can, if we choose, build an America that has places for people who want cars, and places for people who don't. That was supposed to be a key idea of America--that not everybody has to live the same way.

You can spring up a new, distant, car-based suburb on a pristine land. The deer and the groundhog who used to live there, don't get a vote.

But usually, people who already live in a city of, say, density X, are pretty strongly opposed to building more and increasing the density to 1.2 X. Also, those 0.2 X new residents naturally are only moving in in the future, so they don't get to vote, either.

Somehow, the attitude of the people who get to enjoy the dense, walkable neighborhoods, would need to change so that they'd be more open to sharing their lifestyle with more new people.

Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#54

Post by seanmcdirmid »

roymurdock wrote: post #12
yosito wrote: post #4

Anecdotally, I always loved having a car and the sense of independence and freedom that came with it. Then at the age of 25, I moved out of the country to a small, walkable town in Latin America where I either walked, drove my scooter, or took motorcycle taxis everywhere. After two years of living there, I moved back to the US, bought a Jeep, and was super excited to have the autonomy and ability to travel between ci…

What happens if/when you have kids. I’ve seen many people biking around Amsterdam with their kids in protective bike high seats. But this is unheard of in many US cities. Minivans are the usual solution. Would you teach them to take public transport or try to live within walking distance of everything? Obvs doesn’t apply if u don’t plan on it, but curious if anyone has found a solution in US cities.

I drive with my toddler about once a month, to the pediatrician office or something.

We live in downtown Bellevue, so we don’t need to drive to hit the park, mall, or grocery store

Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#55

Post by sotojuan »

couchand wrote: post #31
colechristensen wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"America" doesn't consist of LA, NYC, and SF. There are a lot of people even in those places that don't want density but choose the environment because there are jobs, and there are jobs because so few people are willing to leave. (catch 22)

It's true that America isn't only New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, but those three areas do make up over 10% of the population, which is nothing to sneeze at.

I know it’s because it’s HN, but SF is just not that big of a city to be included with the other two. Maybe include Houston, Philadelphia, or Phoenix. SF isn’t even in the top ten.

Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#56

Post by rorykoehler »

ryanhuff wrote: post #43
eysquared wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Seattle with a 2 year old and one more on the way. I can't believe I ever considered leaving the city to have kids. I can walk to a coffee shop 3 blocks away without taking 15 minutes to strap my kid in a car seat and the amount of parks we have access to in a short walk in incredible. We take the bus to the zoo and aquarium and my son loves seeing all the people and looking out the window. Being out and ab…

I suspect when your kids become older, your life will become more dictated by your kids activities that you don’t control as much. Sports practices and games, school, etc. These will be unlikely be centered around walking distance from home. And, then, I will welcome you back to the fold of parent indenturedness. :)

Why would anything change? I live car free and everything is either walkable or public transportable distance away. Same for the activities you mentioned. When I was a kid and played a lot of sports if there was an out of town meet the team bus would take us.

Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#57

Post by analog31 »

mkempe wrote: post #25
DougN7 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt it’s feasible year round.

It is in Boulder, Colorado. The bike paths are generally cleared of snow separately and before the roads.

Madison WI is that way too. I'm a year-round bike commuter here. Studded tires keep me shiny-side-up.

But I'm torn about pushing winter cycling on people. I realize that if it's miserable for somebody, then they're not going to do it. I happen to love cycling and bikes, so the idea of riding during the winter just means more chances to ride under different conditions, and a chance to tinker with one more bike.

In terms of ditching the car altogether, that's a toss up. For most families, to understand their commuting situation, you have to draw the triangle from the two parents jobs to school or day care, possibly different schools if they have more than one kid. For a while, my daily commute was a labyrinth involving dropping people off at different locations before turning the minivan around and heading for work. But today, everybody takes a bus or rides their bikes. Our high school has basically no student parking. Cars are part of our transportation mix, but we try to minimize their use.

At one point it had been so long since I drove to work, that I forgot about a big construction project, and got lost.

Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#58

Post by dpeck »

eysquared wrote: post #34
couchand wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a parent to a one-and-a-half year old in New York City, and I grew up in a mid-sized midwestern city. I'm obviously biased, but I think we've got it much better off here. A block and a half away is one of the best playgrounds in the city, and three blocks the other direction is another fine playground. Both of them are packed with kids at all hours of the day. When we go visit family in the midwest, we make a poi…

I live in Seattle with a 2 year old and one more on the way. I can't believe I ever considered leaving the city to have kids. I can walk to a coffee shop 3 blocks away without taking 15 minutes to strap my kid in a car seat and the amount of parks we have access to in a short walk in incredible. We take the bus to the zoo and aquarium and my son loves seeing all the people and looking out the window. Being out and ab…

I’m surprised by this, we visited a friend in Seattle with my son and it felt like the least child friendly city that I’ve ever been to. After seeing people tieing off to shoot up midday in Freeway Park any thought of having my kid play in the park was gone, no need to risk a needle stick.

I will say as far as cities go those effected with homelessness were not as aggressive towards me/us as I’ve experienced in other cities, but they were extremely aggressive towards each other and didn’t make it feel like a very welcoming place for families.

Perhaps the few days my family was there gave me an inaccurate impression. I’ve been there numerous times for business and always enjoyed the city, but those times tended to involve a lot more Lyft rides and eating/drinking at higher price point restaurants than walking around exploring the city and time in the parks. With my family we were mostly in the First Hill, Downtown, Pioneer Square, and a bit in Belltown neighborhoods.

Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#59

Post by asveikau »

mc32 wrote: post #44
asveikau wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in San Francisco and have kids. We walk a lot and my older one is a big fan of muni. I really dislike taking the car out.

With MUNI and BART you always have to make sure you and whoever is with you wash their hands after you get off. They are constantly filthy and you never know who sat in the seat you're in before you, but knowing the kinds of people who hop on, you know the potential for pathogens is considerable. Of course, hygiene is important any place, but specially the city. Now, on the other hand, maybe it does strengthen your i…

I do stress hand washing and being careful and observant about what you touch but I do believe you are overstating the risk.

Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart

#60

Post by antt »

BRAlNlAC wrote: post #45
antt wrote: post #36

One thing I have always found odd is how no one talks about treating cars like guns. Both have reasonable use cases. Both are fun to tinker with. Both are the main ways people kill other people. And you shouldn't need to use either daily in a civilized society. That's not even talking about the rest of the problems mass car ownership creates, from climate change to destroying neighborhoods to the health crisis sittin…

>And you shouldn't need to use either daily in a civilized society. This is either some next-level elitism or a false argument. Does the recluse have no place in society? What about the logger, or the Tractor operator? What about the surgeon who is on call, do you want them to bike to the hospital at 2 AM? I sure as hell don't. If your argument is that no individual should have to own a car, we already live in that A…

Tractors, trucks, ambulances and motor bikes are not cars.

> we already live in that America.

Perhaps you should visit the old town centres in Europe, or the country villages. You can see what a society built around not using cars looks like.

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