3mo ago

Insanity

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Well, I need to stop by fedex, go the the grocery store, and pick up dry cleaning all before I get home. Then I need to make dinner. So, if the bus takes 1.5 hours and driving takes 15 minutes… the car wins.
We should really say fuck urban sprawl. I’d love to walk to work 🤷
- I can do all of those things with a 5 minutes walk in my European city. And I don't even live in the city centre.
  Mixed zoning and walkable cities are the solution.
  
  That sounds like a dream. What country do you live in?
  
  Italy. Then of course not everybody is as lucky as me (e.g. people living in the countryside, or working far away from home), but the majority of people can enjoy having all their basic services at a walking distance. Especially if they live in the city centre.
  
  Part of the solution. Public transit needs to be much faster, more reliable, and more efficient too. But it needs proper investment.
  
  Not living in the city is my solution. It's great.
- ex Londoner here, I can plot that route in my head by walking around Clapham Common station where I used to live.
  
  Lucky
  
  In Munich and I’m the same, work to home is 20mins on PT, and everything I need is available at the home end of the journey. If I need to go to a bigger supermarket or something less regular I can take a different way home and stop in the middle. The problem isn’t PT, it’s urban sprawl and poor amenity planning.
- Well those things are like in the same mall where the parking absolutely sucks, so bus was way easier.
  
  For me it's an 11 minute drive, 16 minute bike ride, or 58 minutes walk according to Google. Not sure about the bus since it doesn't calculate time for multiple stops.
  
  Perhaps, but bike and walking time don't change based on traffic
  
  Mall?
  
  how is a grocery store in a mall?
  
  That’s how it is in the Philippines.
  Parking usually sucks, because it’s completely full.
  I’ve even seen cars line up for a space to park at the mall.
  The parking garages are usually big, but Manila is overcrowded by a significant amount.
  
  Pretty normal in most European countries
- My city started a program using taxes to pay for half the bus fares of citizens
  So I looked things up.
  Going to the nearest grocery store:
  35 minutes walk 15 minutes bike ride 6 minutes car trip 90 minutes bus ride somehow
  
  Yup. Takes forever. If busses didn’t exist in traffic, having their own dedicated lanes… well, then we would have a light rail.
  
  My city also seems to have a weird focus on lowering fares to increase ridership. Going from $2/ride to $1/ride isn't going to convince anyone to turn their 30 minute drive into a 90 minute bus ride. Or deal with the uncertainty of whether the bus will be at the bus stop on time.
  
  Right, cost isn't the issue.
  I wouldn't mind getting a yearly subscription if I could use it anywhere, had more buses, and more routes.
  Let me pay taxes goddamn it that's exactly what they're for.
  
  Idk, I cost can be the issue. I live in a city with pretty decent public transit, and there's a reliable transit line that will take me to a friend that I visit pretty regularly. It's like 5-10 minutes to drive and maybe 20 to take public transit. More time, but if public transit was free I would definitely take it at least 80% of the time.
  The problem is, if my boyfriend and I both go, it costs us ~$10 for the round trip. It's hard to justify spending that when I already have a car, and the gas to get there is a negligible expense. I do okay money wise (hence why I have a car at all), but if you ride often enough that expense really adds up.
- Even if there's only two or three things a month that transit is better for, you're gonna get reductions in traffic. It doesn't have to be a full car replacement to be worth bigtime investments.
  And it's the only thing that scale.
  
  Seriously, tho!
  Madison, WI just launched Bus Rapid Transit only on one route so far. But that route goes right past the stadium and arenas where the UW Badgers play their games, the city and university performing arts centers, the state Capitol, many popular music venues, and the State Street pedestrian mall. It has free park-and-ride lots at each end of the route. Lots of people say that they will ride in for events at these venues, so BRT hasn't solved all our issues, but it's lessening congestion and helping even drivers get around more quickly.
- Current citty dweller here, having 200 people within 30m (in three dimensions) of my bed at night is unsustainable. Trust me theres a middleground somewhere
  
  Well…. Having fewer people is a good solution.

148 comments