The article puts too much emphasis on political movements, when the answer is most likely economics and the increasingly sedentary lifestyle of the average youth.
Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
171–180 of 835 posts
Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US anti-car narrative often refers to the Netherlands as some kind of beacon of proper public infrastructure, whilst not knowing a damn thing about it. First, let's establish that the Netherlands is a car country. We have 11 million cars on a population of 17 million. On a typical day, 1 million people use public transport. Cars are the norm, not trains or bicycles. Public transport is rarely faster, not even in…
That is not a car country. São Paulo has more car than population, and has so many cars that their area summed is bigger than the area of all streets in the city. It is so many cars that sometimes walking 1 hour to your workplace is faster than a car route where you can spend 2, 3 hours to go to a neighborhood next to yours during rush hour. So many cars that the city became also the city with most helicopters, becau…
You forgot to mention the rodízio. Depending on the final digit of your car plate, there's one day of the week in which it is forbidden from being used in the rush hour within the central part of that huge city.
Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the question that anyone that rejects cars would ask is "why do you choose to live 60km from your work?".
Perhaps because real estate/rent is simply too expensive anywhere closer.
Whenever I've heard people make that argument, what they actually mean is "The huge house I want to live in I can afford if I spend an hour a day in the car, oh and people that live in the cities should not make it harder for me to pursue such a path by restricting car usage. Externalities be damned, won't someone think of my being unable to afford a 5 bedroom house with a big garden in the city".
Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
#174I'm an aging millennial, but on a purely personal level, when I lived in a city with good public transit, I was a lot happier, most of the time. I really like stepping off the train and the bus and being on my own two feet, the walking exercise, not being chained to this thing I have to worry about. I hate driving, I hate parking, I hate owning a car--the maintenance, the ongoing cost of fuel and insurance, all of it. I was happy to have it to leave the city, but overall, it was a last resort. I live somewhere that requires a car now, and it's fine, traffic isn't so bad, I like cranking my music and being able to haul shit around, but even then, I don't get the emotional association of freedom that previous generations did. I don't know what's different, although I have some guesses. Money, I'm sure, but there's something that's nagging me about it. Maybe it's the internet. Maybe it's that communication technology makes the world feel closer and more immediate than it used to. I'd be curious to hear about how/whether the experience of driving has changed over the decades, but freedom to my cohort means something else.
People get sanctimonious about not owning or using a car, and that's annoying. I just wish there were more options. I don't see us (in the US) removing car infrastructure. I could see additive changes, though, which include national public transit, with some political will and creative thinking, which means it'll never happen.
Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
#175"Falling out of love with" = unable to afford
Like in my city it'd cost at least $4000 to get a licence, and then $250 a month for indoor parking, $~200 a month or so for insurance, road tax, etc. and $~400 a month for the car loan.
After taxes and mortgage payment/rent that's just unaffordable (as a Europoor).
Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
#176There's 138 trains per day between Amsterdam and The Hague. It's faster to take the train than to drive on that trip. Driving in either city in an exercise in frustration. Why would anyone in a rich country with a high functioning rail system like The Netherlands want to drive? I don't know how many rich countries that describes, but I lived happily for years in Boston in the USA without a car. I have one now but onl…
The US anti-car narrative often refers to the Netherlands as some kind of beacon of proper public infrastructure, whilst not knowing a damn thing about it. First, let's establish that the Netherlands is a car country. We have 11 million cars on a population of 17 million. On a typical day, 1 million people use public transport. Cars are the norm, not trains or bicycles. Public transport is rarely faster, not even in…
> We have 11 million cars on a population of 17 million.
Yeah, but we have 23 million bikes.
It's true that our public transport has been neglected. The privatisation of the 1990s was a bad idea in my opinion, and public transport should be run for the public good, not for profit. Like roads, it's part of the nation's infrastructure. And better public transport means less people on the road, which means less traffic jams, which will also mean better travel times for people who really do need cars.
The number of bike trips and car trips aren't that far apart (25% and 32%). Public transport still lags way behind at 3%.
Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US anti-car narrative often refers to the Netherlands as some kind of beacon of proper public infrastructure, whilst not knowing a damn thing about it. First, let's establish that the Netherlands is a car country. We have 11 million cars on a population of 17 million. On a typical day, 1 million people use public transport. Cars are the norm, not trains or bicycles. Public transport is rarely faster, not even in…
That is not a car country. São Paulo has more car than population, and has so many cars that their area summed is bigger than the area of all streets in the city. It is so many cars that sometimes walking 1 hour to your workplace is faster than a car route where you can spend 2, 3 hours to go to a neighborhood next to yours during rush hour. So many cars that the city became also the city with most helicopters, becau…
If that is your standard for being a 'car country'. What is your standard for being a 'public transport country' or 'train country'?
Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t think that car ownership is related to poverty or absence of disposable income. In fact, a well off person in a well functioning city has little if any reason to own a car and can get away without one. Subreddits like r/solarpunk, r/fuckcars, r/notjustbikes, along with the push for 15 minute cities are a testament that young people dont want to be in the grip of petrol companies or owning a car as they are no…
> In fact, a well off person in a well functioning city has little if any reason to own a car and can get away without one. You can get away without one, that is if you don’t mind sharing transit with violent junkies in any North American city. Transit can be down right terrifying to use these days.
I’ve relied on public transit for 7 years in 3 different cities and never once have I encountered a “violent junkie”. It’s far safer to take transit than to drive. Cars kill 40,000 people a year in the US. Cars are the leading cause of death for Americans age 15-24. These are deaths we just normalize and wave away because it’s the living cost of car-dependent infrastructure. But it’s not and shouldn’t be normal or acceptable.
=> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...
Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
#179I don't have a car because I live in one of the densest cities in Europe with awful traffic and no parking. Public transport can be slow and you get weirdos on it occasionally and it's annoying if you want to visit somewhere without a train station like a castle or whatever - but it doesn't seem worth the hassle of having one in the city. I really wish they'd expand the train network though.
They need to enforce the law on public transport too.
Like begging and street selling should be illegal, clean it right up so even the wealthy would choose to take public transport.
Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends where you live. Good public transit is unfortunately the exception in many places and not the rule. Cars are still needed in many use cases.
You're almost getting it. So, so close. >Good public transit is unfortunately the exception in many places and not the rule. Then let's make it better! :-)
>”You're almost getting it. So, so close.”
>” Then let's make it better! :-)”
Why respond with such condescension? And, why follow it up with such a hollow and glib call to action?