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Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

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Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#181

Post by souprock »

the_gastropod wrote: post #60
briandear wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walking, public transport and biking are orders of magnitude more inefficient if you have kids or have to transport anything bigger than a backpack.

Millions of New Yorkers (and billions worldwide) have kids, no car, and get along just fine. Subway trains are quite capable of carrying virtually anything you can carry. And bicycle trailers are pretty impressive specimens. And when you need to haul anything truly massive, sure, rent a Uhaul. But to pretend you need a 2-ton vehicle because you've got a couple little kids and a load of groceries for the week... c'mon…

It could work for a kid or two, but that family size isn't enough to prevent extinction. Somebody needs to have more kids.

For me, a load of groceries fills 3 shopping carts in the store (packed to the top and overflowing) and 4 once bagged. That seems to be about 42 cubic feet (1.2 cubic meters) of food, with weight likely approaching a ton. I still have to buy a bit more during the week, since we go through about 2 gallons of milk per day and I'm just not going to attempt bringing home and storing 14 gallons of milk.

I use a 3-ton vehicle by curb weight. It can be a 5-ton vehicle when filled. The 5.4L V8 gets 11 MPG in the city. It's actually fuel-efficient on a per-person basis when I fill most of the 15 seats with people; think of it as 3 times a 5-seat vehicle that does 33 MPG.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#182

Post by seanmcdirmid »

zjaffee wrote: post #172
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, it sounds like he/she doesn’t live downtown. I had all that when I was living in Westwood, which is far far far aaay from downtown, but I could have had that in belverly hills, or Culver City, or even (but just barely) Brentwood.

What museum is walkable from westwood?

That is kind of a weird question to ask when Westeood is right next to UCLA. So besides the hammer, there are a bunch of smaller galleries on campus, including one with meteorites.

There is also a giant robot art gallery in sawtelle japan town, which I think is walkable, definitely bikeable.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#183

Post by zjaffee »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #182
zjaffee wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What museum is walkable from westwood?

That is kind of a weird question to ask when Westeood is right next to UCLA. So besides the hammer, there are a bunch of smaller galleries on campus, including one with meteorites. There is also a giant robot art gallery in sawtelle japan town, which I think is walkable, definitely bikeable.

I was overlooking the hammer, I was too caught up on the miracle mile, downtown and expo center museums.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#184

Post by SllX »

biztos wrote: post #139
kaybe wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are more reasons: - For pre-tank times, makes it a lot harder for strangers (e.g. intruding enemies) to get oriented. - For more modern neighborhoods, make the roads confusing so cars won't take a shortcut through and bypass the main road. (--> keep unnecessary cars out of living areas since they are dangerous to kids on the street and the noise and air pollution is bad)

> For more modern neighborhoods, make the roads confusing so cars won't take a shortcut through and bypass the main road. Alas Waze and its ilk are breaking that system in a lot of European cities. It's now quite common to have quiet residential streets suddenly turn gridlock when some algorithm has correctly-but-malevolently decided it's a good shortcut for everyone getting from the office to the freeway. When I thi…

Those who live by the algorithm will die by the algorithm.

I wonder when it is going to be fashionable to intentionally do shit again rather than passively half-living through digital agents.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#185

Post by wasdfff »

ilaksh wrote: post #154
briandear wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

West Hollywood, Hollywood, Sunset, Santa Monica, there are a lot of walkable areas in the LA metro.

Who can afford to live in those areas?

You can find a 1br all over LA for ~1500 you know. Studios even less. Go on craigslist and check it out.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#186

Post by thirdsun »

basementcat wrote: post #113
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…

This made me think of this documentary https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_world_before_your_feet

"Playing in select cities" - from the official website.

That's what's wrong with indie cinema, documentaries and small movie projects. Another film I'm interested in, I'm ready to purchase and watch, yet I can't since it's not available anywhere, except for some screenings in a handful of places worldwide. So it ends up as an easy to miss entry on my ever growing to do list hoping to be re-discovered and some day.

I understand (though not agree with) the argument for theatrical windows for big, mainstream blockbuster movies. However what is the point of artificially and severly limiting the availability of niche releases like these? Your target audience is already tiny - unnecessary barriers certainly don't help.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#187

Post by thirdsun »

biztos wrote: post #144
chrisseaton wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> i live in LA and walk often. it's great. Doesn't LA have literally the most polluted air in the country? Doesn't sound great for walking.

I visited Santa Monica (basically LA unless you live in LA) several times and walked almost everywhere, only taking a Lyft when I really wanted to go across town (the Blue Bus comes eventually, but it isn't fast). Air quality was fine and there was a 4-mile beach to walk on if you wanted to really Walk. I know people who live in Downtown LA and don't own cars. I get the impression there are several parts of LA you ca…

> Air quality was fine

> Not sure about the air quality downtown but my friends didn't complain about it.

I think unhealthy air quality is dangerous long before you actively notice it. I'd rely on measurements instead of subjective impressions.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#188

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#189

Post by moorhosj »

paulie_a wrote: post #110
kevindong wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving in downtown Chicago during rush hour is awful. I remember it taking something like 15 minutes just to move a handful of city blocks due to how backed up the on-ramp onto the highway was. Also, are you controlling for the housing type? Condos in high rises (which are much more expensive than detached single family detached) tend to be concentrated near the trains.

I am going to generalize your statement: driving in Chicago is awful. Ive consistently had it take an hour to move ten miles regardless of the day of week to visit family in Milwaukee. At least a third of the drive I could see the Sears tower in the rear view mirror. Amtrak/metra is far superior to car ownership. Uber for local travel and is quite frankly cheaper with less aggravation because I don't have to deal wit…

==And don't get me started on the taxis. That entire industry in Chicago should go out of business.==

This would lead to even more Uber/Lyft drivers which already make traffic considerably worse in my experience.

Re: Great Divide in How Americans Commute to Work

#190

Post by basementcat »

thirdsun wrote: post #186
basementcat wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This made me think of this documentary https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_world_before_your_feet

"Playing in select cities" - from the official website. That's what's wrong with indie cinema, documentaries and small movie projects. Another film I'm interested in, I'm ready to purchase and watch, yet I can't since it's not available anywhere, except for some screenings in a handful of places worldwide. So it ends up as an easy to miss entry on my ever growing to do list hoping to be re-discovered and some day. I…

I think part of the problem is that low budget indie releases have to _pay_ theaters to be shown. The consequence of their small budget is they can often only afford to screen in a small number of theaters in major cities.

In contrast theaters literally beg studios that make blockbusters to let them project the film on as many screens as possible since these movies are expected to draw large crowds and popcorn and drink purchases.

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