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Comment by Workaccount2 | Hacker News Reader

The more popular mass transit becomes, the better the proposition of driving a car becomes.

You cannot escape that as transit drives down traffic and frees up parking, cars become much more enjoyable to use.

This is true, but only in a car-centric city like those in the US. If we extend this hypothetical to include additional changes to our infrastructure such as: reclaiming lanes for wider sidewalks, bike lanes, and bus/taxi lanes, restricting car traffic on heavily foot-trafficked streets, or building housing where parking was, cars remain cumbersome to use.

I’m not actually pitching this course of action for any specific city; I actually live in an extremely rural area and don’t have a horse in this race. Just want to make the point that mass transit investments can’t happen in a vacuum if we want to achieve the desired results.

It is taken as flatly impossible that parking would be reclaimed for other uses?

We don't build parking smart here in the States, period. Parking lots should be multi-story to serve multiple buildings and have an array of solar panels on the roof to contribute to the city's power needs.

In theory? In practice and when I have a choice, I will always pick mass transit instead of driving because I prefer to walk and avoid the hassles of traffic lights, risk of crashing or running someone over, wear and tear on my car, gasoline, etc...

> I will always pick mass transit

I'm going to guess you've never had some drugged-up crazy try to stab you in a bus? After the second time it happens, you never ever consider it again. Life is too short to die like that.

I'm going to guess you've never had some drugged-up crazy nearly ram into you at high speed in a car? Life is too short to die like that, and to spend it sitting in traffic to boot.

Car has airbags. My chances are better than “knifed on BART”. And your chances of a fatal collision in stop-and-go traffic are as close to zero as a number can be - the kinetic energy just isn't there at those speeds.

As best as I can tell your gut feeling and anecdotal experience here is not supported by evidence / data.

One particular example that had a good breakdown: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1...

How many people per year are knifed on the BART?

I’ve been using public transport my whole life, and that has never happened. Not even when I’ve visited the US. You may be a statistical anomaly.

(If nothing else, the piles of corpses would, presumably, be noticeable and cause scheduling issues.)

With working public transport, you’ll generally see more development without parking. Very, very few of the places I go regularly have parking at all.

Who doesn't enjoy a good equilibrium?

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