Fuck Cars

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[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

That article is worthy of its own post.

The average American walks less than 75 miles a year - about 1.4 miles a week, barely 350 yards a day.

Edit: Be the change and all that... I created a post and thanked you. Cheers

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[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago* (5 children)

Good read. ~~Bill Bryson is British though, so he grew up with a generation accustomed to not seeing public transport as a dirty word.~~~ Edit: Nope, he just has a good british accent. nvm,

When I visited LA, I was amazed at how good the public transit system there is. A bus driver would literally wave people through if they didn't have the right fare, and would literally wrangle wheelchair users into their seat at the cost of their own backs. Yet, there was always this feeling that the people who used the bus were less than scum....

... no other country has this stigma when it comes to using public services.

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[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I lived in LA for a few years...without a car!

The transit system was great for me because I worked at a Uni and got direct service door-to-door. It worked just all right for my wife. It was convenient for her, but she worked downtown in a professional office. The kind where people wore suits and the senior people still wore ties (in LA!).

Buses were clean in the morning and full of people headed to work, but on her return trip they would be be...fragrant with a different clientele. This isn't meant to be classist, but she didn't feel safe and was worried about cleanliness. Our drycleaning bills were high.

We were told we could manage for a couple years because we didn't know anyone and so we didn't get invited anywhere. It was true. All of our trips were to popular, well serviced destinations.

That was prescient advice because eventually we did meet people and started getting invited to dinner parties etc. where buses simply didn't run. And a car was purchased.

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[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I think safety is a huge thing. As a woman, I can imagine feeling less than secure in such a setting. As a man, it seems okay though

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[–] PedestrianError@towns.gay 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

@tetris11 @DrBob Women make up the majority of US public transit users whether or not they feel less safe using it than men do so maybe instead of trying to get rid of transit the society should try to be less misogynistic?

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[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

I had no idea, I assumed men used transit more, but you're right:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/715212/public-transit-use-gender-transit-mode-united-states/

Getting soceity to be less misogynistic seems like it might be the right way forward indeed (or in any case)

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[–] PedestrianError@towns.gay 3 points 2 years ago

@tetris11 One of the many reasons our transit systems suffer from disinvestment while our roads suffer from overinvestment is that transportation planning decision makers are disproportionately white, male, and abled and all of them make enough money that driving is at least an option for them if not a job requirement.