this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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politics

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[–] PunnyName 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Can we just invest in public transit while taxing the fuck out of personal vehicles as well as cease subsiding oil, ffs?

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That wouldn't work in the vast majority of the US, which is very spread out.

[–] PunnyName 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Land doesn't ride in cars, people do.

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

Public transit isn't feasible is many rural areas. I know you don't like it, but that's reality. Sending a bus 20 miles down a road in the hopes that one of 4 people on it want to ride on the bus just doesn't make sense.

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

Sending a bus 20 miles down a road in the hopes that one of 4 people on it want to ride on the bus just doesn’t make sense.

Super true. I am disappointed bus systems have not started an on-demand system. Uber/Lyft showed what an app could do for transportation. Add physical call buttons at stops, or something, for those without mobile phones.

I would ride the bus more if it went where I need to go.

[–] PunnyName -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So because it doesn't currently exist, it can't ever?

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

What kind of public transit that exists in reality can cover that situation? The answer is none. We can wish and hope for all kinds of things, but for the moment, reality exists.

[–] PunnyName -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because you have no vision, it can't happen.

Got it.

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

It sounds like you also have no vision, since you can't come up with any solution to that situation.

[–] PunnyName -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Okay. How about:

• High speed rail between major metros.
• Trams / light rail from major metros to nearby suburbia / rural towns.
• Suburbia / rural towns also implement those same trams / light rail.

•• Walkable cities / towns, with emphasis on bus / bike / light rail transit, slowing traffic.
•• High density living with mixed zoning to minimize sprawl.
•• Use of large tracts of land as parks and other third spaces.

I'm sure there's more, but that's off the top of my head.

Edit: oh, and instead of following up with "tHis WoN't wORk", please offer solutions. That generally goes over better than just complaining.

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

You are the one complaining and not offering solutions. Your proposed solutions above don't solve the rural issue (unless your solution is forced relocation of everyone to cities, which is never going to happen) which has to be solved before you can make cars so expensive that only the rich can afford them. I also don't know why you would want to reserve cars for the ultra wealthy, hardly feels like being ultra wealthy needs more perks.

[–] PunnyName 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I see you stopped at the first sentence and decided to make your comment. Rural townships (as well as metros and any other city state) need to incorporate buses and light rail to improve their towns. And start to re-plan around transit, bikes, and walkability.

As for only the ultra wealthy owning cars, I don't even want them to own cars. Ideally, I would hope cars are so regulated and so heavily taxed, that the only way for anyone to drive them in the future is on a closed track, like how race cars are now.

Humans are terrible drivers. Cars are bad for everyone. And decades of propaganda from car companies have made it where we have an insane culture thinking that somehow cars are the ultimate independence, when it's actually a self-inflicted trapping.

We need to be free of cars.

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

I didn't stop at the first line. None of your suggestions encompasses truly rural areas, which is a large amount of the land area of the US. Take a trip out of your metro area some time.

[–] PunnyName 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You think I haven't?

You also realize the vast majority of people don't live in rural areas, right?

Land doesn't ride in cars.

Additionally, a train center can be built in a rural area (or can use Amtrak / freight trail that's already there), to then be used by regional trains.

Like, the options aren't just a possibility, they're already here!

Sounds more like you think cars are the superior form of transit, and I can't dissuade you from thinking that, even tho it's entirely wrong.

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

I'd like to again suggest you leave your metro area. It sounds like you have no idea of the scale of rural America.

[–] PunnyName 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I've traveled across the entirety of the US. Even been to Alaska. I'm not ignorant of what you think I am.

You're a lost cause, and I will waste no more of my time on you.

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

If you've traveled that far then you SHOULD be aware that the solutions you mentioned won't work in rural areas. It boggles my mind that you claim to know rural areas, but persist in proposing non-sensical solutions to mass transit there while simultaneously proposing abolishing cars.

I do agree about time being wasted here, but it's mine that was wasted by engaging with you.