Image transcript:
Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) sitting at a lemonade stand, smiling, with a sign that reads, "Trains and micromobility are inevitably the future of urban transportation, whether society wants it or not. CHANGE MY MIND."
this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023
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Trains are great but people want their own personal bubble and don't want to stand around outside waiting for a train especially since the timetable is out of their control
What people want and what is sustainable may be two different things and some people will just have to deal with that. Leave earlier and dress for the weather 🤷♀️
Ideal but large corporations and billionaires are not just going to stand by and let the government ban cars
We don't need to ban cars, we just need to stop structuring literally everything around accommodating them. Also a difficult task, but far easier than banning cars.
Who said anything about banning cars?
the strawman said it
Or, stay at home, and let someone else do the traveling.
Literally incongruous with how most folks will vote but sure
Because people still vote for money over prosperity.
This is key. Urban planners and environment folks focus so much on their respective fields and don't consider dignity enough. Of course we'd all like cheap, fast, sustainable transportation, but not if that means being packed into bench seating, plagued with delays, and sometimes even risk our safety due to other passengers. Trains don't have to be bad, but the penny-pinching planners often ruin the experience.
I drove through Atlanta at rush hour once. I'll never go there again, if I can help it. That was kind of the opposite of what I think of when I think of "dignity."
Quite frankly as an American, I think it's very American to even consider the timetable as out of your control. For a lot of places, the trains come so fast that you're not even waiting for a few minutes - like most drivers take longer to get settled into their car seat before driving. The sorry state of American transit is absolutely not the pinnacle of transit.
This has been my sticking point with trains. In theory, it sounds fantastic and I’m all for it. The problem is is that Having a vehicle is so much nicer. Air conditioned and private transportation, whenever you want. Listen to what you want, go where you want.
Maybe if the train was much more convenient? I like the idea for travel more.
If you look at old maps of streetcar networks in cities (before they ripped up the tracks to replace them with cars), one thing that stands out is just how dense the networks were. For instance, here's the old Montreal streetcar map:
Versus the modern-day Montreal metro map:
And Montreal has some of the best modern-day urbanism in North America, mind you; most cities are far worse. But it really makes you imagine what our cities could be like if we made many/most streets car-free and just had ultra-dense networks of trams again. Maybe even cargo trams to deliver goods to stores as well. Trains would be ubiquitous and ultra-convenient.
It's because we built everything to be car-scale and then the metro states had to adapt to that
Crappy.
I recently bought a car for the first time in a decade. Driving is hell.
Move to the city and use a bike? Can't or don't want? Not a problem for the city or the people that live in it, you're a guest, not a resident.