Also, just saw this mention of a new book from Vaclav Smil: Speed, which delves into some of these topics.
https://vaclavsmil.com/book/speed-how-it-explains-the-world/
How we can reduce traffic congestion
351–360 of 373 posts
Re: How we can reduce traffic congestion
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most people who live in dense cities don’t live in high rises… It is very clear you have never lived in a well functioning city before, and just have no idea what you are talking about. Take the L and admit you just don’t have experience with it. North Americans often don’t because North American cities are extremely bad in this regard.
I'm sure there are plenty of people, who, regardless of how well functioning a city is, don't want to live in one. Myself included.
Absolutely. It’s just the very anti city people never ever seem to use excuses that are actually valid.
Like if “the things that brings me most joy in life require owning lots of land” or “I don’t like people and every day I have to be near them drains me”, those are really valid reasons and there are many more.
What that tells me is either they have a caricature of cities in their head, or (more likely) being anti city is an identity and not based on anything actually about cities per-say.
Re: How we can reduce traffic congestion
#353Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's only really been buffed by the facts you don't have to pay for massive custom vehicles or drivers, and market dynamics (and the corresponding incredible features and amazing factory and transportation efficiencies) mean cars are extremely good value for money for a lot of people. In other words: there's a profit motive, so people get something really good for their money. Public transport is frequently a monopol…
So you bought a car for a good price full of features, good for you. Now where are you going to drive the thing? Can you build your own road wherever you want to go? No, only the state can build roads? How could we allow such a monopoly over our lives. Now you say there are rules to follow on these roads, with enforcement, meaning someone has power over you the entire time? Yikes.
Sorry, I'm not sure what point you're arguing against.
Re: How we can reduce traffic congestion
#354Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why is it fair for public transit riders to have to pay per ride In my city public transit fares only cover something like 10% of the cost. Isn’t that fairly typical? > car owners get to use the infrastructure for free Every place I’ve lived charges a fuel tax to pay for roads.
Fuel tax doesn’t often cover everything. LA metro actually spends an appreciable fraction of its budget on highway and road expansion for example.
Sure, I wouldn't expect fuel tax to cover everything. Local roads are quite useful to people who do not drive at all, and major roads and interstates are disproportionately worn by commercial vehicles that also benefit many people who do not drive private vehicles.
Re: How we can reduce traffic congestion
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is difficult for me to admit I'm an idiot but when I was younger and living in an apartment, I loved the idea of a single family home. And now that I'm living in a single family home, I feel like I was wrong all along. Not that I want to go back to the apartment I was in before. Dear lord no but the idea of a mixed use building not too tall only like first floor with high ceilings for business or shops with two or…
People also change and want different things at different parts of their life. Young and single - living in an apartment is amazing. Once someone is coupled up, has kids, and some animals, a SFH also looks much more appealing. Once the kids are gone, then an apartment/condo starts to look pretty attractive again.
Never in my life has living in an apartment seemed appealing. But I suppose that depends on the apartments you can afford.
Re: How we can reduce traffic congestion
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have kids? I feel like apartment living as a family is worse than a spacious single family home and yard and all that. I suspect that preference holds true for most people.
Most kids are only into playing in the yard for a couple years really. Before long they are preteens living in their room, probably seething at the fact they need a ride from a parent to hang out with any of their friends. Apartments can also have stuff you could never afford that a kid would like, such as a massive pool (try pricing out a new build pool these days).
Lmao what? Everything about this comment is nuts.
Re: How we can reduce traffic congestion
#357Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve done that and those areas change over time. A town becomes more like a small city. A small city becomes more dense. Etc. Then all the urbanists move the goal posts and ask why you didn’t live somewhere else.
Just move to the rust belt. If you are going to move to a growing job market don’t be surprised when the job market grows and triggers demand for development.
You don't have to be surprised to disagree with it. What's the limiting principle here? Every city should grow to the size of Tokyo?
Re: How we can reduce traffic congestion
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve done that and those areas change over time. A town becomes more like a small city. A small city becomes more dense. Etc. Then all the urbanists move the goal posts and ask why you didn’t live somewhere else.
God forbid society grows around you. How dare all those productive aspiring people build things near you. Did they not know you had exclusive right of refusal on nearby development?
Landlords...productive...okay then.
Re: How we can reduce traffic congestion
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
People will generally choose whichever mode of transport is most convenient and cost-effective, based on how they rationally (or irrationally) weigh various factors. If every road were free of traffic, every destination had unlimited parking at the door, everyone already owned a car, and driving carried no direct or indirect costs, almost everyone would drive everywhere. The only way to shift people onto public trans…
> If every road were free of traffic, every destination had unlimited parking at the door, everyone already owned a car, and driving carried no direct or indirect costs, almost everyone would drive everywhere. Cars don't even have tables; let alone toilets, dining areas, sleeping cabins, etc. Even those which do (e.g. RVs) would require a solo traveller to stop in order to use them. No thanks, I'll stick to the train…
How long do you spend on transit that most of those are necessary?
As for toilets, the new Caltrain cars, built by Stadler (from Switzerland, which has the best non-high speed rail train infrastructure in the world) were not going to include toilets at are - I don't believe they do in Switzerland - but were forced to add one by ADA regulations in the USA.
Re: How we can reduce traffic congestion
#360Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fuel tax doesn’t often cover everything. LA metro actually spends an appreciable fraction of its budget on highway and road expansion for example.
Sure, I wouldn't expect fuel tax to cover everything. Local roads are quite useful to people who do not drive at all, and major roads and interstates are disproportionately worn by commercial vehicles that also benefit many people who do not drive private vehicles.
Indeed. After all, roads predate the car by thousands of years. But still, often roads are overbuilt and their potential capacity is never close to being reached. The bog standard suburban design we see in america for example is generally severely overbuilt. Plenty of arterials nowhere close to being used to their theoretical throughput limits. If your experience of suburbia is mostly american centric, if you look at say english suburbia where major roads only offer a single lane per direction you'd wonder how society there functions at all. But it does, because those single lane per direction have enough capacity to serve a generally denser version of suburbia than what we might see on the fringes of Dallas, where giant empty roads such as this (1; note how there are barely any cars in frame) are found on standardized 1 mile square grids out of routine more than anything really. Compare with (2) which feels much more right sized for the road demand in this generally denser suburban area on smaller lots with attached housing.
1. https://www.google.com/maps/@33.1890836,-96.7504787,3a,75y,1...
2. https://www.google.com/maps/@51.3698269,-0.1403251,3a,89.7y,...