Push for transit, walkable communities growing across US
apnews.com
apnews.com
There's so much more we need to do though, especially around larger-scale transport like passenger rail. In most of the US we only have slow amtrak lines that aren't competitive in any way with airlines. I went to Spain and France a couple years back and got to ride metros, high-speed rail, etc. It's insane how much we as Americans rely on overly-large, dangerous, gas-guzzling 50k personally owned (financed) machines to get us around in our daily life.
We moved from a suburb deep in Southwest Houston (like, the last non-rural neighborhood before you enter what I would consider "rural territory") into a neighborhood in the heart of Houston (Montrose).
Quality of life has gone up considerably in almost all axes.
There are more erratic people on the streets here, so there is a perception of less safety. That said, I would feel much more comfortable walking around here at night than where we came from, as more people == more witnesses.
Aside from that, I cannot overstate how awesome it is to be able to walk and bike to pretty much EVERYTHING that we used to drive 45 minutes to. It is also nice to unintentionally see all sorts of different people, in all sorts of different places.
It is easy to think "well, you can either have an affordable, sizable house 45 minutes away from everything, or you can get a sardine can in the city", but I don't think that's universally true.
All of the suburbs that I've been to that either predate or are about as old as cars are all walkable and have all vital community functions (school, church, city center, businesses) within walking distance.
Suburbs that are completely secluded from others and REQUIRE a car to go from your house to anywhere (or from your house to ANOTHER house in the SAME COMMUNITY) is a relatively recent problem of our own creation.
It needs to stop.
I think having everyone out of their cars and on the street walking also does wonders for feelings of safety and community. Isolation in metal boxes is just bad for people.
Cars are somewhat easy because you don't need a consensus anymore. They are so popular the majority support building the infrastructure around them and each person can spend as much or as little as the like on the actual car.
Rail is expensive and the US is bad at building it. But it has huge capacity.
The expense with roads comes in the maintenance and growth. Growth farther out means congestion which means adding new lanes. Transit helps with downsizing roads and reducing wear.
I've had many cars, I've bought houses, I've driven to work and grocery shopping. About the last ~decade, I tried something different.
I started renting. When I rent, I look for a place walking distance to at least one major store, and areas like parks. Had a couple of gigs where I need to be onsite once/twice per week. Had a gig onsite daily. About half of it was remote work. Sometimes paid more rent for it, sometimes not.
In that decade, I've moved 6 times, lived in 3 states and another country, and have not owned a car or taken a bus unless vacationing overseas. The wife and I do have bikes. If it's crap weather a week straight I order from the store, usually with free shipping/delivery if you buy enough.
Houses are getting ridiculously expensive, but that market crashes - I've been through the 2008 one and had to sell at a loss. we're about to hit one now. now you could be lucky and just ride it out in your house. or you could get canned because the economy is down when your house is down, and have to sell at a loss when you move for the new job. it's a risk, risk has cost, over your lifetime you're more likely to get shafted at least once and it'll be for 6 figures. just average that out over your remaining lifetime as a monthly cost.
With napkin-math, if you:
1. take your downpayment and just dump in into smth like vigax
2. subtract out the interest you'd pay on a loan, assuming you sell before the loan end date so you lost a lot in interest on amortization
3. include that your job market is now worldwide, or even your country-wide so you get a better job that leaves more in your pocket
you actually come out ahead. like a lot ahead. yes, a couple of times a year I rent a car for a few days, and about 5-10 times a year I pay for a lyft. and it's been no issue at all. ever go home from the office to take an hour nap? or get an apartment above your office buildings, sit at home, and just take the elevator down or cross the street to go to a meeting?
cars are not easy. cars are a pain in the ass full of unpleasant surprises, and are a financial garbage dump. a bus or a subway doesn't have to replace cars - planning around using two feet is not only possible, it's dirt easy.
And then for travel to neighboring cities, all we have is planes or cars. We technically do have rail (amtrak), but it's so slow and expensive it doesn't make sense. We technically have Greyhound buses but they're gross and slow.
One thing that flipped my perspective on the viability of alternative transit modes in my city was seeing a 100+ year-old photo showing we used to have cable cars all through the city! Apparently, they just ripped these out to make room for extra wide streets for cars but it would be so amazing to see trams put back in as a replacement for local transit. The safety, speed, and regularity of trams in some European cities I've been to make me jealous.
Again, in general, I agree with you. But I think you might be underestimating the difficulty of moving to a walkable neighborhood in many US cities. A lot of the time, including in my experience, these areas are significantly more expensive than the vast suburbias surrounding us. I feel exceptionally lucky that I can afford living where I do, because the majority of people live in car-centric sprawl.
They already started in Alberta with fake fires started by Justin Trudeau himself.
/s (I wish, thanks Facebook)