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Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#251

Post by dullcrisp »

goatlover wrote: post #235
Zigurd wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private cars are an economic sinkhole. They make no financial sense. My town in the exurbs used to have rail service and stagecoaches. The necessity of private cars is a marketing triumph. Not a choice.

I like the freedom a private car gives me. I can go anywhere at anytime. I have nothing against public transportation and want it to be good. But you can't go everywhere at anytime. Here I'm including the country side and smaller towns.

That’s fine, take your private car and drive it away from the city.

Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#252

Post by dullcrisp »

EasyMark wrote: post #117
epolanski wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it's one of the biggest promoters of inequality. I am an European who studied at OSU in Columbus for a semester and it was absurd to me how on one side there was lots of work downtown, yet you could live 20 miles of it and it would take you two hours by public transport to get there, an odyssey. People without a car, insurance, poorer parts of the society were cut off from the job market for not having a way to c…

Suburbs are fine. We are in 2025, not 1925, there is no reason why work from home isn't an option for information workers and others who don't need to be physically on premises. You are completely ignoring how much that cuts down on traffic and would lower the cost of real estate, so more people who aren't millionaires could live downtown. We also have electric cars that have basically zero emissions, there is a tech…

Not everyone has to ride a bus or a train. They can stay home if they want.

Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#253

Post by mtalantikite »

flomo wrote: post #138
epolanski wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it's one of the biggest promoters of inequality. I am an European who studied at OSU in Columbus for a semester and it was absurd to me how on one side there was lots of work downtown, yet you could live 20 miles of it and it would take you two hours by public transport to get there, an odyssey. People without a car, insurance, poorer parts of the society were cut off from the job market for not having a way to c…

In the USA, the working poor generally don't work downtown, and it's really the industrial areas where there is awful transit service. So cheapo used cars are a must for these folks. There is some awful HN bias here where young healthy well-paid tech workers live in some boogie part of SF/NYC/Boston/etc and enjoy the "car-free lifestyle" (and I've been there), without any idea how the other half lives.

When I look around on the subway here in NYC I see every type of person imaginable. There are wealthy people going to work and unhoused people and everyone in between. There are certainly transit deserts and I have friends that live in them who do have cars -- largely out in Queens, East New York, etc -- but many of the people I know in the city with cars are financially doing just fine.

It's also important to note that the extreme cost of living in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn is relatively recent. My friends that grew up here in the 80s, taking the subway to school, were far from bougie. They were living a car free lifestyle then and now just because that's how the environment of many parts of NYC is built. It's not like NYC was constructed as a walking paradise only for wealthy people in the 19th century.

Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#254

Post by dboreham »

netsharc wrote: post #127
jopsen wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A battery trailer might affect the speed limit your allowed to drive. But it would be cool to just rent the extra 500km when needed :)

Obviously a trailer would not be a clever idea, but Nio already has cars with swappable batteries, for short distances you could just install a battery pack which is maybe 20% battery and 80% empty space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNZy603as5w

Having done a long trip in an EV, in a very inhospitable location (the USA, without access to Tesla chargers), I'm not convinced there is an EV range/charge time problem. I think it's mostly in the minds of the public. Hence I'm skeptical that the changeable battery pack is a solution to any problem.

My experience was that you end up stopping to charge a bit more often than you'd stop to fill up gas, but factoring in stops for bathroom and food, it's really not a significant difference. There just needs to be more chargers (to avoid queuing for an open one), and chargers that are more closely spaced (every 50 miles like gas stations instead of every 100+ miles). Then today's EVs will be just fine for long trips. Not completely perfect, but perfectly adequate, to the point that it won't be worthwhile buying an ICE vehicle just to have it for long trips.

Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#255

Post by dboreham »

illiac786 wrote: post #229
sokoloff wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s enough of a pain in the ass to swap summer and winter tires, and that’s something that (some) people only do twice a year. I can’t imagine people wanting to swap battery packs (either themself or by making an appointment at a service center) before and after every long trip.

If it’s faster than filing up, why not.

It won't be.

Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#256

Post by dboreham »

timewizard wrote: post #112
adonovan wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but even in Wyoming, where you EV is really a coal-powered vehicle, the coal is not burned in the city.

Are you sure about that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Wyom...

Fun fact: there are no cities in Wyoming.

Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#257

Post by rangestransform »

anigbrowl wrote: post #202
Saline9515 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You clearly have a non-existent knowledge of French political life. This referendum had a participation rate of 4%, and only 62% of the voters voted yes. So around 2% of the total voters. By the way, the French metro's air is highly polluted, due to tire degradation and brake dust, making it unfit for children or pregnant women. So yeah, it's manageable for young people. But when a baby arrives, it's hell. Same if yo…

French metro's air is highly polluted, due to tire degradation and brake dust, making it unfit for children or pregnant women These sound like...car problems.

I can insulate myself from these problems in a car with a hepa air filter

Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#258

Post by carstenhag »

jeffbee wrote: post #3

Barely even mentions the noise. Cities aren't loud but cars are. Paris 2025 vs 1995 soundscapes very different.

Of course, noise on sidewalks is important and annoying. But to a German who is used to good (sealed) German windows, French and Spanish cities, just to name some, are just a pain.

Be it in hotel rooms or regular homes, almost nowhere the windows are sealed. Just pressing gently on the window (more pressure on the sealing) reduces the moped noises by 30-50%.

Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#259

Post by jeffbee »

carstenhag wrote: post #258
jeffbee wrote: post #3

Barely even mentions the noise. Cities aren't loud but cars are. Paris 2025 vs 1995 soundscapes very different.

Of course, noise on sidewalks is important and annoying. But to a German who is used to good (sealed) German windows, French and Spanish cities, just to name some, are just a pain. Be it in hotel rooms or regular homes, almost nowhere the windows are sealed. Just pressing gently on the window (more pressure on the sealing) reduces the moped noises by 30-50%.

[cries in American]

Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic

#260

Post by Saline9515 »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #232
Saline9515 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Point is, they still need cars if they have them. And Netherlands are very far from Paris, infrastructure-wise. In Paris, for instance, leaving your cargo or e-bike outside for the night means finding nothing when you wake up (I got two bikes stolen already, and they were the cheapest available).

The topic of the original post is air pollution. Unused cars don't cause air pollution. The topic of this thread is inconveniencing the disabled. Unused cars don't cause traffic that inconveniences the disabled.

Paris tackled the problem by making it very hard to own a car. It's the same for Amsterdam, too. We all hate pollution, it's just that the solutions available in the Dutch countryside are a bit different than in Paris.
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