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Comment by tobltobs | Hacker News Reader

I guess it depends on your experience. In most Europeans cities you are faster with public transport, bike or even by foot.

> Their quality of life just declines.

In my experience and imho this article comes to the same conclusion life gets better for most if you ban cars from the city.

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If it were true that other modes of transportation are always better for the people using them, banning cars would be a no-op as there would not be any.

I didn't say "always". But apart from that, people do not always choose the most optimal solution for a problem. There are many reasons people might be using cars in a city although they are not the optimal way of transportation. They could be lazy, want to show off their new BMW, don't like sit close to strangers, have a broken feet, do have to transport something heavy, ...

The presense of drivers inherently make other forms of transportation worse. Drivers often kill cyclists (seemingly for the fun of it, sometimes, see the case of Matthew Van Ohlen). Drivers intrude on crosswalks, and honk their car's at people that dare cross with the light. Drivers occupy the majority of the allocated street space, despite being a minority of street users.

The presence of buses inherently makes other forms of transportation worse. Buses will often kill cyclists. Buses intrude on crosswalks and honk their horns at people who dare cross the light.

The presence of pedestrians inherently makes other forms of transportation worse. Pedestrians commit most murders. Pedestrian intrude on spaces for motor and bicycle traffic. They cross the street without thought for other traffic.

I could go on.

> The presence of buses inherently makes other forms of transportation worse. Buses will often kill cyclists. Buses intrude on crosswalks and honk their horns at people who dare cross the light.

It sure does! That's why we need more rail-like bus designs, with physically separated lanes and dedicated signals. Buses shouldn't be driving in the same lanes as cyclists, and their routes shouldn't be designed to minimize turning, and when they do, it shouldn't be during a regular crosswalk cycle.

> Pedestrians commit most murders.

Oh, come on. This isn't even worth addressing, but if I must, please compare:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_i...

with:

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-...

I'm totally in favor of eradicating guns, though, which ought to help with the murder problem.

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