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

Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

citylab.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 201 posts

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#121

Post by swozey »

chrisseaton wrote: post #106
uxp100 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably should specify the city you're talking about. Those seem like pretty specific complaints. I think the main thing that can be generalized across most of the US that you mentioned is the grid system, with parking lot islands in second place, but they're not common in the center of many cities. They are quite common on the edges. For example, many readers here may be familiar with San Jose, and itis not a g…

> grab a donut Funny question, but in the US does 'grabbing' something not have a bad connotation? When I hear 'grab a donut' my English mind sees you smashing your fist through the glass of the counter, taking a doughnut, and running off.

"Wanna grab a beer/drink?" is one of the most common invites I've heard for going out. So no, no negative connotations.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#122

Post by BenjiWiebe »

chrisseaton wrote: post #106
uxp100 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably should specify the city you're talking about. Those seem like pretty specific complaints. I think the main thing that can be generalized across most of the US that you mentioned is the grid system, with parking lot islands in second place, but they're not common in the center of many cities. They are quite common on the edges. For example, many readers here may be familiar with San Jose, and itis not a g…

> grab a donut Funny question, but in the US does 'grabbing' something not have a bad connotation? When I hear 'grab a donut' my English mind sees you smashing your fist through the glass of the counter, taking a doughnut, and running off.

It has no negative connotation to my born-and-raised-in-the-US mind. The only thing it implies to me is being in a hurry.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#123

Post by njarboe »

justaguyhere wrote: post #63
skh wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in Berlin for a while and when I came back to the U.S. the two things that stood out were the massive parking lots and billboards. American cities are hostile to humans. Way too much space taken up by ugly parking lots. Go out West and so much land is fenced off. Access to lakes and rivers is hard since so much of the surrounding land is private and fenced off.

Outside of cities like NY, it is actually dangerous to walk. There aren't sidewalks, drivers are actually hostile towards those on foot and on bikes. American cities are built for cars and cars only.

Almost every city in America has sidewalks. I guess you might be technically correct that "Outside of cities like NY" if "like" means "has sidewalks", but that would exclude almost 100% of cities.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#124

Post by zjaffee »

clairity wrote: post #71
joey-bob wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you live in the US? It sounds like California, specifically the concrete desert of LA.

do you live in LA and know this firsthand or are you repeating a cliché? i live in LA and walk often. it's great. the weather is awesome (60's and sunny today, in the middle of winter), i have dozens of good restaurants and cafes within walking distance, as is most of my shopping needs. parks, theaters, museums, bars, and other entertainment can be easily reached by walking. LA is a big city so not everything is righ…

Sounds like you live in downtown, as that's the only neighborhood that fits all of those things within walking distance.

The majority of people who live in LA, live somewhere nestled into the bigger sprawl that is the region. While there are plenty of neighborhoods that have walkable aspects, the city is by no means walkable (even with transit) to huge portions of the city.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#125

Post by techiferous »

bloomca wrote: post #27

I don't think there is such a great divide. The greater divide is between people who own a car (or cars) and who do not, however, seems for USA it is a divide between New York City and the rest of the country. Also, I can comment on one thing I personally enjoy a lot – walking. I lived in many European cities, and recently moved to USA, so I can comment on it. To be able to walk, you need to live close enough to your…

> USA fails miserably at "interesting and beautiful" part.

> Grid system makes it super boring

> Architecture (in downtowns) is straight up horrible

Sounds like you've never been to Boston! Come on over, you'll love it. :)

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#126

Post by village-idiot »

bobthepanda wrote: post #62
WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> miniaturize personal transit technology This was the segway model.

This is also now the e-scooter and e-bike model, which seems to be faring better.

Ironically, some are actually made by Segway.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#127

Post by aswanson »

chrisseaton wrote: post #106
uxp100 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably should specify the city you're talking about. Those seem like pretty specific complaints. I think the main thing that can be generalized across most of the US that you mentioned is the grid system, with parking lot islands in second place, but they're not common in the center of many cities. They are quite common on the edges. For example, many readers here may be familiar with San Jose, and itis not a g…

> grab a donut Funny question, but in the US does 'grabbing' something not have a bad connotation? When I hear 'grab a donut' my English mind sees you smashing your fist through the glass of the counter, taking a doughnut, and running off.

I legit got a laugh out of that. Thanks.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#128

Post by zjaffee »

clairity wrote: post #90
joey-bob wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in San Diego, and would visit friends in LA somewhat frequently. My interpretation is based off of my experiences in the northern slice of the area, San Bernardino to Venice Beach. Also I had to drive through LA to go anywhere, which might have colored my experience a bit.

gotcha. san diego is probably the only place with better weather, if that's possible, and seemingly with more intermingled trees (a good portion of LA's trees are in the hills dividing the valleys and basins). venice is super-walkable, and i'd guess it's better to live in the venice/santa monica bubble without a car than with, because getting out of the westside is awful by car for large parts of the day. within the…

Venice is far from super-walkable, it's just walkable by American mid-density standards. I don't know how much time you spend there, but the sidewalks in Venice are pretty poor quality, walking to and from the grocery store would be difficult depending on what part of Venice you live in, and getting to other parts of the city is incredibly difficult to do so by public transportation in Venice. Some of this stuff can be supplemented with a bike, but it's still not an area I'd recommend not having a car in, especially should you not have a job in the immediate area.

The problem, is that Venice is what a regular suburban area should be like in terms of walkability, when for the most part, suburbs have nowhere to walk too.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#129

Post by bobthepanda »

njarboe wrote: post #123
justaguyhere wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside of cities like NY, it is actually dangerous to walk. There aren't sidewalks, drivers are actually hostile towards those on foot and on bikes. American cities are built for cars and cars only.

Almost every city in America has sidewalks. I guess you might be technically correct that "Outside of cities like NY" if "like" means "has sidewalks", but that would exclude almost 100% of cities.

How far do you have to go out to reach an area without sidewalks, though? Even many suburban developments don't necessarily have those.

I went to a college in the suburbs of Long Island and the road outside campus was a two-lane road with a speed limit of 55 with no sidewalks. To walk outside of the cities is to invite death.

And this is before we get into things like the lack of adequate marked, signalized crosswalks that are common throughout America: https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/01/17/between-your-bus-stop...

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#130

Post by njarboe »

so33 wrote: post #89
njarboe wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it wonderful how the car allowed a large number of families to own a home with a piece of land, yet have access to the amenities of a city? Nice and spread out living spaces with concentration for work and culture. Now we just need some tunnels or something to deal with the problems that fast above ground car transport causes (mostly noise, pollution, and using up precious surface land).

>Isn't it wonderful how the car allowed a large number of families to own a home with a piece of land, yet have access to the amenities of a city? That was an illusion. House prices are soaring in the inner suburbs (case in point: the Bay Area) to the point of complete unaffordability, forcing people out further and further from where they work and, consequently, creating situations where commuters drive for hours ev…

A tunnel can have any kind of transport running in it as you want. Cars, buses, and trains at the same time. A toll tunnel that is run full will be wildly profitable and would inspire others to build them. "The Boring Company" already has the tech, we just need to work out the regulatory system so that they can build across the multiple small cities in the LA basin. Below a certain depth you can't even tell the tunnel is there.

A controlled tunnel system would be easily driven by today's automatic cars. It pick you up and goes back home (no parking problem), runs on electricity from your sunny California rooftop solar array, and works as a peaker power source for the grid when you aren't using it. Bring me a future that is better than the past please.

Post reply on HN