this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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London has one of the best transit systems in the world. A car is not necessary.
If you want to take up a shitload of extra space and pollute everywhere you go with fumes and noise then you get to pay extra. It's a choice, not a necessity.
My friends we're not talking about America here. There is infrastructure and a social culture beyond "why should government help it's own people fuck you get a car". There are lots of ways to get around by bus or train or bike and they're all way cheaper which is good for poor folks.
In America you'd be right, we make our poor and everyone else pay 10x what they'd spend on transit to pay for a car, car insurance, gas, parking, toll roads and repairs. Then defund every other form of transit, build our cities for cars instead of people and call it Freedom.
The public transport into London is pretty good
If you live outside the city, you don't pay taxes in the city.
If you don't pay taxes in the city, it means local taxpayers are paying for YOUR car to wear down roads, add to traffic congestion, make lots of noise and take up space wherever you park it.
This is why there are toll roads, parking fees, fuel taxes and other additional charges (in this case for noise and pollution) in cities.
So if poor people living outside the city REALLY can't use public transit to get to the city (which I doubt tbh I've been all over Europe for work including suburbs and rural areas entirely by train and bus) then they just have to fucking pay for the extra space, pollution and damage they cause with their cars.
Cars don't deserve special treatment so they can fuck up cities even more than they already do. Just look at American cities, they're all roads and parking lots thanks to cars 😭
I'm in the countryside outside Berlin. The buses are okay. Even places in the middle of nowhere have buses.