I agree, joggers aren’t really a problem at all. They move faster than walkers and overtaking them is a non issue.
I do have a problem with large families using our new wide dedicated bike lanes as their own personal sidewalk though. They really tempt me to fit a car horn onto my bike again… That’s even considering I’m someone who prefers to slow down and wait behind pedestrians, instead of ding-dinging my bell to ask for passing space on shared paths
It’s more acceptable if the lane is wide enough to overtake and/or they’re running at a decent clip, i.e. 10-15 mph. But jogging is usually more like 5-10 mph.
I live in a small walkable city in the Netherlands. I ride the bus, the train and my bicycle. I still own a car since those other transport modes don’t cover every need I have. And car sharing is non existent in my town.
I don’t think owning a car is necessarily a problem. For me FuckCars mostly means “fuck using a car unless you have to”, which means using a car for those kind of commutes that people do every day or very often. Go to your workplace, school or university, go shop groceries…
There will be other context where you are going to need a car. Your holidays, for one. It’s not a problem in my book. And of course it also applies to a lesser extent to folks living in the countryside, where it’s inherently more difficult and expensive to link communities to transit. Our main concern should be ridding cities of cars and you guys in the Netherlands are already doing an amazing work on that front in many places.
You’re saying it’s because people in Europe would only ever travel halfway across, whereas in the states they travel all the way from coast to coast? 😂
The opposing argument is pretty logical too though. The US being so spread out could make sleeper train rides much more attractive compared to extensive long-haul drives where you must be attentive.
It’s a complicated issue that goes beyond the geographical differences.
Car centric cities vs walkable ones. Lower fuels costs and bigger cars vs more expensive fuel and smaller cars. And in this specific comparison, an utterly terrible passenger train experience with minimal usage vs a competitive and robust system utilized by many. A bit of a chicken/egg issue there too.
Yes, but the major factor invoked by think-tanks (which admittedly only care about aviation and car industries) is always that the low-population-density makes track-laying and maintenance unprofitable outside freight, unlike in Europe or Asia, I can get you one example of such a report.
These cost calculations probably aim for optimising cost and not for CO2 emissions :/ anyway, good explanation with the decentralised and public-private mesh rail network
Valid point, especially as rail is more expensive compared to highway and air. At least on its face without emissions and other hard-to-quantify factors.
Many moving parts would have to come together for it to be more viable in the US, and there’s still no guarantee it’ll ever be cheaper. Or popular.
I used to be in a rare situation where I could actually use a light rail to commute and avoid a terrible 45 minute to hour-long drive. I really enjoyed the free time in the train compared to stress in the car. But nearly every one of my coworkers refused the train because it wasn’t massively cheaper and for other relatively-minor reasons. It was eye opening for me.
Sitting in my car right now. AC on. Had to drive my Mom to the doctor which is ~8 town blocks from home, but the road is only safe for cars. No busses in my town or county. We saw two elderly women crossing the huge parking lot on foot with grocery bags, clearly to walk home with them, and noted that they are smart.
The only way to do it is to have everything in walking distance. Places where things are already too spread out make this very hard to do. People get used to driving everywhere and don’t want to pay to change things.
Public transit, busses, light rail, etc. Are great. No need for everything to be in walking distance.
It’s not too hard. It just takes time. A city can change hugely in 50 years.
And people don’t want anything to change. Until they get used to the new way. Then they don’t want it to change again. But everything always changes. That’s the only thing that doesn’t change.
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