I'm always amazed how different people are. Living in a high density city made me miserable because there were constantly people around me. On the other hand I love semi-rural low density suburbs (What I can afford) and extreme rural even more. If I saw these policies enacted I would try hard to get out.
People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
251–260 of 345 posts
Re: People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
#252I dont want a car free city, buti desperately want a car de-emphasized city where for most trips the car is an option but its not the beat option vs walking/biking/transit with this idelly achieved by making those other methods of trnsit dramatically better not by making cars dramatically worse. Kind of like what they have done in the netherlands
This describes Chicago.
More like it describes Amsterdam. Chicago is not ideal for many other reasons (taxes, useless government, crime, terrible weather for substantial parts of the year)
Re: People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
#253These (American) articles on urbanism and what not always make it seems much more insane than it is. I live in the Netherlands, a country usually lauded for it's bicycles and public transport and what not. And let me tell you: We still drive cars. All the time. Even in Amsterdam, our biggest city, 4/10 families still owns their personal car. In the Netherlands as a whole it's 9.5/10 or so. It's about THE MIX of optio…
> These (American) articles on urbanism and what not always make it seems much more insane than it is.
Wholeheartedly agree, and what is also funny that usually it is described from POV of citizen living in: tier one city center with mild weather whole year round and relatively flat topography/terrain - and at the same time it's written in a way that suggest that it's THE SOLUTION absolutely applicable everywhere else.
Re: People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
#254As someone who has worked in London for many years, the difference is amazing. Biking in the city is now enjoyable, and the air quality is (subjectively, even without the data) dramatically better. There was an incredible resistance to the recently introduced ULEZ (Ultra Low Emissions Zone) expansion, but I'm incredibly grateful for the sake of my children, if nothing else, that it has been pushed through.
The lack of those smelly poor people also makes for a nicer environment.
Re: People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
The way Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea fund trains is a big difference with the US (though ironically is similar to how the US used to fund trains in the 1800s). The companies (usually in some kind of private-public partnership from my understanding) who build and run the trains in East Asia typically get land around the train stop to develop into malls, shops, apartments, etc. These sales and rents then f…
A strange thing about South Korea is that even the most expensive condos in Gangnam derive a significant part of their value from being close to a subway station ( yeoksekwon ). The millionaires who live there are riding the subway right beside the pleebs! No wonder they want to keep the trains nice and clean.
It's the same in Taipei.
Re: People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
#256I was back in Taiwan last year after an extended absence. It's pretty amazing how easy it is to get around with a combination of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system and high speed rail (HSR). When I was last there, you still needed to take a bus or taxi from TPE to the city center. Now right from TPE airport, you can be in either Taipei city center in 30 minutes (MRT) or on the other end of the island in short order…
I find cities in Taiwan frustrating to navigate without personal transport, at least a bicycle. Having lived in Kaohsiung for a bit, I observed that very few people use public transport unless they go to/from intercity rail or airport. Buses in particular are unreliable (mostly used by older people), and MRT alone is obviously not enough for the sparse city.
> I find cities in Taiwan frustrating to navigate without personal transport, at least a bicycle.
Some days, we walked > 10 miles; goes perfectly with stuffing your face with street food.
To be fair, we were there as tourists and only for 12 days, but in any of the major metros, we did not feel like our experience would have been better with a car. Maybe bikes.
Re: People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
#257These days I'm finding myself doing half my trips on a bicycle and half in a car. In my experience one of the biggest barriers to micromobility in America is cultural. Motorists can be aggressive and complacent because their vehicles are big and have airbags, and so long as they aren't impaired they won't be held accountable for harm they cause with their vehicles. Cyclists and pedestrians can act in a way that is entitled and reckless because they know they probably won't be held accountable for their behavior either. Except some of them sometimes forget that the laws of physics are less flexible.
A few years ago I was driving my son somewhere, and a cyclist blew through a red light and slammed into the side of my car. Fortunately the only injuries were the ones that the cyclist inflicted on himself through his reckless disregard for the law. Judging how much damage he did to my car, if my son and I had been on our e-bikes instead then I think that guy could have easily killed my kid.
Knowing that there are too many cyclists and motorists who behave with complete disregard for the law makes me feel like I really have no choice but to put my child in a big steel cage with airbags and crumple zones if we're going to travel anywhere on American roads. And before you ask, this was not in a big city, so public transportation was not a viable option for us that day.
My personal experience seeing peoples' general behavior and attitudes on roads in both Japan and Amsterdam makes me wish we could find a way to adopt some of that culture.
Re: People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
The French work week is 7 hours so they get an extra hour to fuck around with public transportation a day. So that might help quite a bit. Still I’d be curious how upper middle class folks with kids survive without cars. Maybe that 33% covers the affluent folks with kids tho.
35 hour work week is for government employees. Obviously, there are a lot of them but there are still more nongovernmental employees who don't have the benefit of a government job or unions that work a typical 35-45hr/week. > Still I’d be curious how upper middle class folks with kids survive without cars. All my middle class friends the kids walk. Everywhere. There are public restrooms everywhere. There are buses, p…
I fully believe it’s possible if the density is there and the services are there to go with them. In the USA we sometimes get the density but not the public services and spaces.
Re: People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in Europe as well. I can understand not owning a car, but never learning to drive is like never learning to swim. Driving is a life skill, whether you own a car or not. Groceries are a lot more than 5% more expensive in a corner shop vs out of town supermarket.
Getting your drivers license is also very costly, must be transferred when you move country, in countries like Sweden (where I live) you have to retake your test every 10 years. It also requires a lot of time to do anything with it. It's an administrative document, like a passport. You can say "getting a passport is important" and I'd believe you, but better to get it when you need it rather than pre-emptively, becau…
Chacun à son goût. I'd prefer not to have to rely on other people. Also, if you change your mind learning to drive is a lot harder when you're older.
Re: People hate the idea of car-free cities until they live in one
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think most advocates for reduction in car dependency in urban environments think that trades people shouldn't have vehicles to carry tools and materials around in.
The title of the article mentions car-free cities. I don't interpret that to mean that a Ford F-150 is fine, do you?
I think this is one of the most extreme real-world examples of a "car-free" city, but they still have vehicles for taxis, public transport, public works, trades people, deliveries, etc: