Automobile ownership is dumb, but ridesharing isn't the answer either. Cities need to invest in public infrastructure, especially fast efficient public transit. People should also rediscover the joy of human power (walk, bike, run).
Making life easier for people who choose to not own cars, has positive impact for those who can't own cars (and not to even begin on reducing the negative externalities).
For the record, I own a car but also frequently hauled a baby stroller and a diaper bag to the metro train (though only for one kid). The secret was to have a stroller that was geared for walking not the SUV sized strollers so popular with the SUV set.
Essentially, I'm saying that there are life choices and/or criteria met that makes lack of car ownership feasible. But since so many Americans live in the suburbs without easy access to public transportation, car ownership just makes the best sense for some people.
And I doubt many folks would have a problem with that, except for the fact that car transportation is by far the most heavily subsidized lifestyles around without even factoring environment or societal external costs. Add suburbs to that and the people living the worst possible lifestyle for the environment are being bailed out by the rest of the country who does not live like that.
That's my major problem with car culture in the US. It's basically welfare for the wealthiest of Americans.
Was disagreeing with the difficulty part. It’s not hard to prioritize living a car limited life. In particular I find the “schlepping kids” argument uncompelling because the stuff you schlepp grows to the ease of schlepping. Lots of people with no choice handle this as the easiest part of their day.
If anything my argument is that we should make it more stupid to own a car.
And people who drive cars. Because less congestion if there are half as many cars on the road.
A lot of European cities with good public transport and narrow medieval roads still have less traffic than American cities with 4 lane roads.
When I was growing up my family had a car, but around middle school it was possible to bike to any school/sports/extracurricular activity within 20 minutes. My parents kept the car for a number of reasons, but getting to work was numero uno. If getting to work was simpler with public transportation then we would have been able to get rid of the car much more easily.
Now living in a big city - Amsterdam - makes living without a car magnitudes easier.
Outside a city of course, the equation is different and public transport just can't work for everyone, but in large cities life would be better if no-one had cars.
Kids take the bus all the time with their parents. My brother, sister,and I took the bus all the time with my mom or grandma or occasionally both when we were very young. Sometimes when we'd add in a few cousins too, then we'd be rolling 8+ deep.
My parents car was always breaking down and my grandma never learned to drive so it was just totally normal to hear "we're taking the bus today."
When we were a little older (ages 3 4 and 6ish) we would take the bus with the teenage babysitter and her friend to go do something (usually it was ice skating).
It's just such a non-issue.
I really can't understand what sort of "problem" you'd have that you wouldn't have, say, walking on the sidewalk, or going to a store, or just leaving the house at all.
>As defined by the great Louis CK in his concert film "Hilarious", these problems affect Americans in the middle to upper class. This is when your life is so amazing, that you make shit up to be upset about.
Riding on a bus with children is not different from walking on the sidewalk with children, going to the store with children, going to the park with children, going to any public event with children, or simply leaving the house with children.
If you read the thread, the context was about "Cities need to invest in public infrastructure, especially fast efficient public transit" the reply was "you can't ride the bus with children because, idk, they exist?" My post was directed at that reply.
BTW, met a few people with marginal income. They totally wrecked their credit by buying a car. They did not foresee the TCO on a car. After loan payments, insurance, gas, and maintenance they were barely keeping afloat. Payday loans finally sank them and the cars ended up being repossessed anyway. They are still stuck paying the loan since the bank fees and depreciation weren't removed.
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/11/22/mr-money-mustache...
That being said, it would make sense to drive for Uber in some small subset of the population: if you enjoy driving and would otherwise just be out joyriding, might as well get paid. Or if you are a student with varying classwork loads or bored people who would rather be doing something than watching TV.
It was not a problem.
In other countries, many many more cities.
And then when I -did- live close to work (about 2 blocks) I had to cross the town's main street, where I was catcalled about every day and on multiple occasions had a man follow me home even after telling them politely each time that I was not interested. Horray. People here don't walk. So you stand out. When I was in the city I could wear a big heavy coat and most people will ignore you because you look poor/ugly, here even in my most ratty coat people still followed me...ugh.
You can do localized changes such as tax incentives/penalties, subsidize parking less, zoning law changes that make it easier to mix businesses and residential etc.
That plus smart investment in public transit and a mix of ride sharing are all part of the mix to decrease car usage.
It's lazy to exclaim something so obviously incendiary without following it up with an explanation or a reasonable proposal - "everyone in the country move to a city" not being one.
And for the record, I am from the South, I love vehicles and driving, and I also wish like Hell that we could have trains between the Texas metro areas, and public transit on the freeway corridors to the main business and residential districts. I also know it's a multi-generational effort, if it will ever happen.