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Comment by Mirioron | Hacker News Reader

It kind of does though. People online cheer when city centers become closed to cars. Spreading it further probably means restricting cars more.

I don't really disagree with your overall stance, but those two do often go hand in hand. Perhaps that's why progress is slow on that front.

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You still get to have your car, it just means you can't drive it right through the middle of a dense living area, you'll have to park on the edge and walk/tram/scooter in. Which is the best for everyone.

Except for those in a condition not to easily walk or use any kind of two wheels device.

Then there is the whole issue that local city transportation is pretty lousy, even in Europe.

Sure big cities have it good on the innermost district, live a bit more on the outskirts or in a smaller town and taxi becomes the only option for those not willing to wait between 1-2h for each bus into each direction plus additional commute.

A 30m drive quickly turns into 2h.

Electric wheelchairs are likely the best option for the first group. Good thing is making an area better for walking makes it better for disabled people as well. A car centric area is extremely hostile for people with disabilities which make it difficult/illegal to drive.

I am all for improvements in such areas, unfortunately even in countries like Germany, there are plenty of local subway stations and local train ones where those requirements are just ignored.

There are cars specially tailored for people with disabilities, and electric wheelchairs are only practicable in sunny weather.

>electric wheelchairs are only practicable in sunny weather.

In the Netherlands, at least, electric wheelchairs are out in all weather.

Yes, some people enjoy arriving all wet to the workplace.

This comment is clearly silly, since in the Netherlands - a rather rainy country - approximately 25% of people commute to work by bicycle.

You can wear a coat and rain trousers if you feel like it.

I know they do, doesn't mean I want to, and have cycled during Swiss and Scandinavian winters during a couple of years about 20 years ago.

No one wants to wear rain pants. The point is that it is a nice compromise. Amsterdam used to be a car focused city till the late 70s-- and now it is much nicer.

In an ideal world you would not wait for 2 hours for a bus.

Except most of the isn't ideal, far away from it.

Blind, wheelchair-bound, and elderly people use trains daily everywhere in Tokyo. It only sucks if your city doesn’t value the non-able-bodied (which unfortunately is most of the world).

Everyone can be temporarily in such situation, but most of the world doesn't care.

I remember being surprised at the abundance of tactile paving in Japan.

https://www.simplemost.com/sidewalk-bumps/

These are universal in Australia. In the cities they even sometimes illuminate red/green to show the crossing status.

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