It is stunning to me that we can more easily imagine a city center with a collaborative hive mind of self driving cars than we can one with no cars at all.
Why do we want that future so badly?
Why do we want that future so badly?
But of course that's a huge culture disconnect to the US. Germany may be a country of car manufacturers, and we love driving cars, but the US has designed their cities around cars in a way probably no other country has.
subways, light rail, bus rapid transit, bikeshare bikes, personally owned bikes, electric assist personal vehicles (bikes, scooters, wheelchairs), pedestrianized walkways shaded by trees, humane public space, higher density life leading to lower transit time
People have non-car based cities where it's really hot. I was just in Taipei where it's 90F+ and 80%+ most of the year which has most of the things I described. And also where it's really cold. I haven't been to Copenhagen, but it's snowy for a solid three to four months of the year and people use their public transit infrastructure (cycling included) year round.
Walking is fantastic in cities that are designed for walking. Walking by a different shop every dozen steps, rather than every quarter mile. Crossing the street at any location, or even having the street repurposed for walking in.
Yes, snow is annoying. You bundle up with a coat and boots, and then it doesn't matter anymore. The fundamental difference is in how a city is designed.
If we can build electric versions of this that don't need huge crumple zones because they don't crash and don't have to share the road with huge vehicles that do crash, then that might be an appropriate vehicle for cities with inclement climates. But designing cities around todays cars definitely seems to have been a mistake.
They could transport thousands of people per hour safely around a town of any size.
And as ‘snake’ is not an ideal word, I’d suggest the word ‘tram’. Has a nice ring to it.
A variation could be ones that don’t run on tracks but normal wheels. Rest still applies. Shall we call those ‘busses’?
Bike lanes, access for business and residents keep the rest alive.
Bonus points of we plant lots of trees and build little fountains.