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ericmay

> Driving is faster

It's not, if you build correctly. It's only "faster" when you spread things out into suburbia.

Is it faster for you to get in your car and drive next door or to just walk over there?

Of course its faster to walk.

Walking is faster.

You can't just say "driving is faster" without qualifications.

> your car is available virtually 24/7

So are your legs. Walk and bike.

I don't see the relevance of many of these other items you mention. Who cares if you can personalize your car? I'm not saying cars should be banned, but we should stop optimizing for them at the expense of everything else, especially when they aren't necessary.

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I think it's interesting that you have a somewhat valid point for a few use cases, but are quite myopic to the different users.

If I add in:

- I have children

- Temperatures range from -15C to +5C to -15C on the same day, and same outing

=> I need to pack backup clothing for the children in case they get wet in the +5 weather, and backup snow winter clothing for when it's -15 and they get wet.

=> We aren't talking niceties, a 25kg child exposed to sub zero weather in wet clothing will approach hypothermia and other detrimental conditions quickly.

If I add in:

- physical limitation including breathing (reliant on oxygen), exercise intolerance, amputation, pregnancy, pregnancy induced physical limitations, broken limbs, nerve damage, inner ear disorders due to concussion or older age

=> "So are your legs. Walk and bike." becomes... well, I hope you see.

How does everybody else in the world do it? I don't understand why Americans specifically have to have cars, 8-lane highways, and all of this infrastructure to support themselves when the vast majority of the world doesn't. Even if they have cars they still live in small walkable neighborhoods or towns. Why can't we?

How do these people in Dinan in Brittany do these things?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinan#/media/File:Dinan_on_the...

I don't see highways and suburbs. Why can they do it but we can't?

How about Nantes (if you want a larger city)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantes#/media/File:Ile_de_Nant...

Where are the suburbs and highways and gas stations? Maybe we should ask them how they handle having kids. Do you think they have Ford Explorers?

*Also sorry I know my words are coming off as angry, but I promise it's just passion about a problem I feel very strongly about.

My work brings me into contact with many high net worth individuals in Manhattan. They all take cars most of the time. It is faster than the subway, usually, and even when it isn't you can get more done in the car. Even in the U.S.' most dense area driving is usually faster, and it is certainly more pleasant/productive.

Edit: I'll note that many of them will take the subway during rush hour if both ends of the trip are within a couple of blocks of the subway. However, if there is a transfer they won't, the subway becomes time inefficient very quickly if you have to walk far from it or wait for multiple trains.

Ok ok so now walk me through what this looks like if everybody in Manhattan takes a car.

Turns into a nightmare of course. But it's gated by how much you can afford to pay. The new congestion charges will really be a boon to the ultra-wealthy since the charges are minuscule compared to what they are willing to pay and it will get poorer drivers off the streets.

I would prefer it if the congestion charges were scaled to usage rates for that reason (example, you can enter the toll zone once per month for free, but if you do it 20 times the toll eventually ends up being $100+ per journey). It seems more fair to me especially since a lot of people occasionally need to haul a box or something to Midtown, but don't usually contribute to traffic congestion.

Sure, but my point was it was claimed that driving was faster, but it's only faster for people with large incomes who can afford it. It's not faster if everybody does it.

I also am willing to bet if you compared "everybody walk" vs "everybody drive" walking would win out by a large margin in Manhattan.

Flying a private jet is faster than taking a Southwest Airlines flight too...

Not everyone wants to live in an apartment. Call it classism but some people can afford houses and want to be secluded from other people, so to do that they purchase a house they can afford (aka. not in the city or close to a train/subway station) and the only way for them to get to work after that is via a car.

Why would you have to live in an apartment?

Here's a walkable and bike-able neighborhood in Columbus. There's a mix of houses, businesses, and apartments (it's mostly single-family homes). https://api.trekaroo.com/system/photos/229733/original/11943...

Why can't we just build more of that?

Sure some people can live in the middle of nowhere and take their car everywhere, but you're crazy to think that most people can afford to do that. It's just not going to work. We see it fracturing right now.

-edit-

But anyway, we don't really have options now and the things we are doing are completely stupid. There's no way we can just keep building suburbs, strip malls, and highways and have everybody drive a car and it's dumb to even want to do that.

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