What happens when a city bans cars from its streets? • Hacker News Board

Re: What happens when a city bans cars from its streets?

#241

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 4:15 PM UTC

bb123 wrote: post #184

aeharding wrote: post #4

I've dreamt about this. I would immediately move to the first US city that bans SOV commuters from a significant portion of the city (let's say, a couple square miles), and establishes superblocks where no vehicles are allowed whatsoever, with the old streets converted to green space. Of course, I doubt this will happen in my lifetime.

The problem is that most of those SOV commuters are commuters because they cant afford to live in the city. I count myself among them. I would rather not drive, but public transport is too expensive and so is housing. If I have to choose between owning a home and driving, or renting for the rest of my life but having the luxury of a bike I'm going to choose the former.

[deleted]

Re: What happens when a city bans cars from its streets?

#242

Post by Razengan » Sat, Oct 19, 2019, 3:55 PM UTC

magduf wrote: post #225

Razengan wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My dream is that one day most streets ... will be closed to car traffic and replaced with green space full of trees, flowers, children playing, and usable public space. While I share that dream, and rarely ever need a car myself, I cannot currently imagine a better alternative to having a personal car in your home for the following situations: • The most obvious: People who need to be chaperoned: children, the elde…

>• The most obvious: People who need to be chaperoned: children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Children don't need to be chaperoned. In Japan, children as young as 4 go on errands to the local store to buy things for their parents, and children as young as 6/7 walk themselves to school. >• Following on the previous point: Going out with the whole family as a single unit, with provisions for taking care of…

> In Japan

This is what I meant by my reply to the other comment: Not all cultures/societies are the same.

It also happens to be the explanation for the other points.

Re: What happens when a city bans cars from its streets?

#243

Post by mymythisisthis » Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 9:00 PM UTC

Gibbon1 wrote: post #134

mymythisisthis wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People travel for about 3hrs before wanting a break. Cars killed all small cities a 3hr drive away from a major city. It's like a nuclear bomb went off in most small cities.

My GF's dad said where he he lived in the Midwest there used to be a small store at each major cross roads. About every 5 miles. Cars came and every other one died and there was a store every ten miles. Then they paved the road and it was every 30 miles. And then the interstate when in and only the major towns every 60 miles apart survived.

Drivers in Wyoming drive an average of 21,821 miles a year (https://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/average-miles-driven-p...) The circumference of the earth is 24,900 miles.

Our species will not survive much longer.

Re: What happens when a city bans cars from its streets?

#244

Post by magduf » Mon, Oct 21, 2019, 2:39 PM UTC

Razengan wrote: post #242

magduf wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>• The most obvious: People who need to be chaperoned: children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Children don't need to be chaperoned. In Japan, children as young as 4 go on errands to the local store to buy things for their parents, and children as young as 6/7 walk themselves to school. >• Following on the previous point: Going out with the whole family as a single unit, with provisions for taking care of…

> In Japan This is what I meant by my reply to the other comment: Not all cultures/societies are the same. It also happens to be the explanation for the other points.

Well if your culture is so utterly broken that you feel the need to "chaperone" your children everywhere, then maybe you need to fix your broken culture. Japan and Western Europe both show that you don't need cars the way you do in America, and trying to handwave it away with a lame excuse like "well, cultures are different" isn't helping anything.

Re: What happens when a city bans cars from its streets?

#245

Post by throwing838383 » Mon, Oct 21, 2019, 4:08 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #128

throwing838383 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To get people to move somewhere, you mainly just need jobs. Everybody wants jobs. There's no choice, people have to go where jobs are because employers have much more bargaining power. So, create some large enough tax incentives for companies to move there, and people will follow.

> So, create some large enough tax incentives for companies to move there, and people will follow. Except companies don't just go to places because of tax incentives. Indeed, many companies (and people) stick around CA despite the super high tax burden because it has so many other things going for it. Conversely, places with very generous tax incentives can sometimes still have trouble attracting companies because th…

well, it depends on whether your in a high margin or low margin business or and whether or not your a monopoly business. Amazon, entertained many offers from many cities to find the best tax incentives.

I would imagine businesses that compete with low margins would be looking for such incentives.