this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
114 points (86.1% liked)

Fuck Cars

9819 readers
658 users here now

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

Rules

1. Be CivilYou may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.

2. No hate speechDon't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.

3. Don't harass peopleDon't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.

4. Stay on topicThis community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.

5. No repostsDo not repost content that has already been posted in this community.

Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.

Posting Guidelines

In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:

Recommended communities:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm getting a lot of 'but my car is more convenient' arguments lately, and I'm struggling to convey why that doesn't make sense.

Specifically how to explain to people that: Sure, if you are able to drive, and can afford it, and your city is designed to, and subsidizes making it easy to drive and park, then it's convenient. But if everyone does it then it quickly becomes a tragedy of the commons situation.

I thought of one analogy that is: It would be 'more convenient' if I just threw my trash out the window, but if we all started doing that then we'd quickly end up in a mess.

But I feel like that doesn't quite get at the essence of it. Any other ideas?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] mrcleanup 60 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Your car is more convenient because they designed it that way. Visit Europe and everyone's like "get a eurail pass, it's so convenient!" But here we don't have the infrastructure so alternative transport sucks, because we decided to make the car, king, instead of building railway lines.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

While I do hope Europe is years ahead of the USA, I don't know any people who say it's convenient to do a eurail pass. Where I live there are the same problems as in the USA, the car is 1,5-2 times quicker than public transport. That's just too much wastes time to be bothered to go by public transport.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

Is your area a big tourist destination? From my perspective on the other side of the Atlantic, Americans treat Europe as a big, culture/walkability theme park. We don't go to the car-centric wastelands that look like the U.S. looks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Depends on the types of commutes you do and where you are.

For kindergarden to work, for me, car and public is basically equal, but it is like 7km. If it is a carshare / rental car then I will end up slower because finding a spot to park is pain, this of course is negated if it were my car since Id have (paid btw at my last employer) employee parking.

It would of course be easier and faster to get the kinds to kindergarden via car, but this is a 15 min walking distance we are talking here.

There are tradeoffs, but ultimately I choose transit and just grab a rental if I actually need a car, which is rare. Mind you I live in the city and the moment I move to a house outside of the city I am getting a car.

I have to say I prefer transit, no stress, no thinking about times and routes, I can read a book, study or just meditate. Not to mention that the costs are sooo much lower. In the city I travel all month for 15 euros.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It is political at heart. You just can't pit the "power of the consumer" against industry interests and expect an ideal outcome. The Not Just Bikes guy, from what I hear, has given up hope for America at this point. Whatever happens, I hope other nations can learn from our example: Cave to auto and oil interests at your own peril.

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

You talk to about Europe like it was a monolith. Where are I live cars are hugely more convenient than public transport.

Public transportation may be more convenient if you live and work on city centers, everything else not so much

[–] Katana314 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I’m curious where you live. I was traveling well outside of the popular cities to small towns, and bikes seemed like a nicer option even when there was no tram (and there often was)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I live in the north of Portugal. Bikes(electric) might be good for single people, not for families with kids, even for single is not that safe here, most bike infrastructure is made toward leisure rather than a means of transportation