this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Fuck Cars

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A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

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We only have to convince people to hate one more car than they already despise.

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I find the general vibe of this community to be more fuck car dependancy than fuck every car that has ever existed for any purpose.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Sometimes groups like this go overboard since they're naturally sort of echo chambers. Not saying that has happened here yet

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[–] johnlawrenceaspden 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

A bit like the consensus that most gods don't exist.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I believe in Gods, but my Gods have no problem with you or anyone else doing whatever the heck you want, and we'll probably end up in the same afterlife...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

NoooOoOo, you need to worship like I worship or you're not doing it right.

[–] johnlawrenceaspden 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They sound like great Gods, and I'll believe in them even though they don't exist. Where do we meet up to sing?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Not if I get my way. I'll have access to a holodeck that can make me food, and you'll never see me again!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I believe in all gods cause I'm a rebel

[–] johnlawrenceaspden 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's the spirit! What fun you must have imagining them all fighting about who's real...

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

I hate my car too, I’m just required to own it because I need it I’m the suburbs to commute and it has already been paid off.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Very true. But I would still get rid of either mine or my wife's (and only keep one for trips) if we had public transportation... or fucking sidewalks at least.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I live in a very very car dependent city with an almost non-existent bus system I survived for 7 years without a car until a potential employer insisted that in order to work there a car was mandatory. This happened at three separate job offers in my career before I finally caved.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's incredibly common for most decently paying jobs where I live, and has been becoming more common even as the gov:t has pushed for public transit (and reliability of trains has declined). The potential costs of an employee being potentially 30+ minutes late due to transit issues are just too great.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I understand their point of view it just sucks because no doubt it's generated even more traffic exacerbating the problem

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you managed to escape car centric development, you still got to escape car centric employment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I really hope more workplaces embrace remote work but unfortunately the nature of work I do necessitates in person work

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It's incredibly common for most decently paying jobs where I live, and has been becoming more common even as the gov:t has pushed for public transit (and reliability of trains has declined). The potential costs of an employee being potentially 30+ minutes late due to transit issues are just too great.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Sunk cost fallacy. We already dropped money on it, after all.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Believe me, I wish I didn't need a car, but I'm a field service tech and my job requires a work vehicle since I'm travelling with a ton of tools. I'd also love to get rid of my personal car, but my wife needs it for a 30-minute commute; the bus ride is close to 2 hours and there aren't really any other practicable transportation methods.

Don't even get me started on the lack of infrastructure outside of downtown, there are a ton of places around town where they don't even have sidewalks, let alone bike or bus lanes.

I don't know what the solution is when so many cities and municipalities either don't want to invest in mass public transportation or (in the case of my city) cheaped out and ended up with a light rail transit system that barely functions. It just reinforces car ownership out of necessity.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Public transit doesn't work in sparsely populated suburbs. You need medium density developments like we had all around the world before car-centric urbanism took over. Throw in some commercial buildings and public amenities and you often don't even need transit because you can walk anywhere you want to go.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

Public transit does work in sparsely populated suburbs. We just don't want it to work there.


In short: at 50 households per sq km, we could replace cars with a bus every 5 to 24 mins 24/7/365.

Assumptions:

Density: 50 households per sq km (lowest possible before rural) Transit catchment: 1 km radius Cars per household: 2 Cost of a bus: ~$122 USD/hour ($165 CAD) Cost of a car: A car $988 per month on average Use of car: 380 hours per year on average.

Calculations

Households per bus stop: pi r sq x 50 = 157 Cars per stop: above x 2 = 314 Car cost per stop: above x $988 x 12 = $3,722,784 Annual Car hours per stop: cars x 380 { 112,000 Annual Bus hours per stop: car cost / 165 = 22,562

22,562 annual bus hours, or 2.5 busses running every hour all hours, per stop with 1 km bubble at the lowest possible density for suburbs.

At 3 km (cycle distance) you get 1,413 cars replaced with 101,530 annual bus hours. Or 11.6 busses per hour, every hour, 365 days a year.

Edit: added up front summary

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hate being in a car. If we had reliable and safe public transportation I'd actually go places. Trains would be nice too.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

You're not stuck in traffic, you ARE traffic.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Eh, not a massive fan of driving either. I still have a car, as my town's bus network isn't entirely bulletproof (though it is really awesome), and of course for going between towns when necessary.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Sounds alot like religion....

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Relatable. I totally love the bus that I often take

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

My county removed busses a few years back, at the same time nearby counties have had their bus systems blossom into great networks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I hate the one I drive too. It's a piece of shit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I drive no car. >:(

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