I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
I also largely disagree with this "carless world" argument that seems so popular with young journalists living in dense, poorly-designed, and poorly-managed metropoli.
Every time these urban development subjects comes up on HN, I point at the Japanese examples of Tokyo and Osaka. Clean streets and sidewalks, pedestrians and bikes are everywhere, low rate of fatalities....and yet cars are everywhere too, and Tokyo has one of the most vibrant "car cultures" on the planet. So obviously we don't HAVE to get rid of cars to make a city of 10 million people function correctly.
The Japanese accomplish it via: 1) almost no curbside parking for POVs 2) commonly available yet expensive parking lots, with extremely narrow parking spaces 3) exorbitant vehicular taxes & registration 4) world-class public transit so the "plebs" are discouraged from needing a POV in the first place. Not having half of their population overweight or obese is probably also a factor (smaller vehicles which can take advantage of smaller parking spots, and fit people are probably more willing to walk/bike/etc.)
I DO like that the author covered how reducing road traffic is good for car enthusiasts too, and I very much agree: please give inattentive commuters who are hating life driving from Point A to Point B superior transit options.
As an aside, I visited NYC about a year ago with my Japanese significant other....the subway infrastructure is so archaic I felt embarrassed for our nation.
There are still easy ways around the Shaken: typically swapping on your stock exhaust system for the inspection, and then taking it off immediately afterwards to install your straight pipe. You just re-attach the catalytic converter every 2 years. Or you can just pay for a "paper inspection", where a mechanic rubber-stamps your documentation. However, the police have been harshly cracking down on that the last few years. My Supra has a US-sourced custom single-piece driveshaft, which is apparently totally illegal, so I need to either cobble together a 2-piece shaft from OEM Toyota parts, or pay a shady shop. The Japanese police almost never do any sort of snap roadside inspection though, which is much better than the nightmare stories I hear from California.
They should also just outright ban, and enforce, no left turns. It sounds silly and stupid but it would help.
These 4 lane roads are typically: 1 lane parking, 1 lane double parking, 1 lane flowing, 1 lane someone sitting trying to turn left.
Not to mention all the bus lanes that are just constantly full of idling, double parked, cars.
¹I know, usually a dumb thing to do anyway.
I believe those restaurateurs will lobby the city to also let them do that next season, having invested some serious money into building those, which will accelerate the process of the public space reclamation explained by the author of the article.