I do keep hoping one of these will succeed though: we have many different things that move and need multiple solutions to kick our fossil fuel habit.
Walkable cities with train systems are ideal but will take decades to build out, plus at least in the US, we have predictions of people moving away from cities
Battery seems to have won best technology for personal transportation, whether scooters, bikes cars
But what about all those trucks, aircraft, construction and farming equipment, shipping, military vehicles? That’s a lot of fossil fuel usage with no solution in sight
toofpic@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Oh, come on, I live in Copenhagen and cycle daily, but even there, cars are not going anywhere. Smelly-smokey cars, yes, but not cars in general.
n2burns@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
Cars aren’t being eliminated completely, but we can reduce their usage significantly if we look to your home city as an example. In Copenhagen, only 44% of commutes are made by car. In the Bay Area, probably the car-centric area of California, 85% of commutes are by car (I removed the 33% WFH, so 58/67=85%).
toofpic@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Yes, it does work, and it feels nice there. Though a large part of it is not about improving other ways of transportation, but about creating problems for car-owners.
So, “greater good” and all, but the situation is far from perfect even here, and people have a long way ahead, to create infrastructures where people also feel good, but not because someone is “getting punished for bad behaviour”
Sanctus@lemmy.world 7 months ago
What is the argument here? Cars are here to stay forever and ever? Most daily commuters could get used to a train. It is possible for most people to live without a car, your city was just designed in a way that requires you to.
abhibeckert@lemmy.world 7 months ago
It’s definitely not “most”. You have to live and work near a train station for that to be viable option.
In Copenhagen, which has a wonderful transit network, trains still only cover 39% of traffic. And I assure you the other 61% is not cycling or walking.
bassomitron@lemmy.world 7 months ago
So what’s more practical, slowly replacing all ICE cars or completely redesigning entire cities, bulldozing large metro blocks to reconfigure and rebuild?
n2burns@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
A little column A, a little column B. Mostly, we can have gentle changes to our cities, like removing Single-Family Home and other exclusionary zoning, removing mandatory parking minimums, as well other initiatives to encourage higher density, mixed-use buildings, and active transportation usage.
Sanctus@lemmy.world 7 months ago
As I just commented. How many individuals can drive cars before congestion makes it impossible? 10 million people? 20? 30? The I-10 and 101 stack interchange is already a fucken mess that can’t be expanded. How do you handle exponentially more drivers on the road each year?
heyitsmikey128@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That’s the point, we can’t exactly just resign a city from the ground up to work with public transit especially when it’s not being pushed for by the majority
Sanctus@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Yes but what is the alternative? Can civilians all have their own car when 10 million live in a city? What about 30 million? 100? It stops making sense the more people you have. And on top of that suppliers and transportation services use the same road, too. It is already like flying through the death star out here with half the road being eaten by transportation companies.
Tattorack@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I dunno, man. I think it’s about time Copenhagen takes a good look at how The Netherlands has been doing things the past decade. Cycling infrastructure can do with a serious upgrade around here, and The Netherlands has proven that, yes, you totally can reduce the number of cars on the street.
sndrtj@feddit.nl 7 months ago
As a Dutch resident, I seriously disagree here. We are just coming out of a 15 year long neoliberal period that has caused the following:
All these things are having the effect of pushing people IN cars, because the alternative is getting more expensive for reduced service. Heck, road congestion is significantly up from pre-pandemic levels and that’s with the neoliberals investing billions upon billions in new asphalt.
Not Just Bikes is in a bubble, and it’s seriously irritating to have foreigners believe we’re this utopia.
Tattorack@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I’m Dutch/Danish. Not so much a foreigner as you think. And the prices for public transport are increasing over here as well. Has to do with market inflation… Or so I’ve been told by my roommate who works for DSB’s IT department.
The alternatives are bicycles, not cars. If people are choosing cars instead, despite living in a flat country with bike lanes everywhere, then the problem isn’t the infrastructure.
toofpic@lemmy.world 7 months ago
It’s not the time to brag that The Netherlands have a better cycling infrastructure (that is actually debatable), the comment was about cars “going away completely”.
Yes, I don’t have a personal car, but recently I needed to haul a dining table and 6 chairs into my apartment. It took a Berlingo and two hours, and it would be a complete circus number even with a cargobike.