It is going to be very funny (read: horrifying) watching the American economy entirely grind to a halt, due to our car centric design of everything just completely imploding as ICE vehicle commuting itself becomes a luxury.
We’re so fucking delusional about this.
Cars are unaffordable.
Gas is unaffordable.
Public transit basically doesn’t exist outside of some major cities, but not even close to all.
If it costs more to go to work and be able to go to work, than you are paid for working, it is imminently rational to not go to work.
Just most people in general will completely lose their minds as this gets worse.
The problem in the US is that everything is to far from everything else thanks to low density, sprawling suburbs. Public transport works best in high density neighborhoods where they constantly have enough passengers that allows for a bus every 5 minutes.
The other difference is that in my city you don’t get any free parking, because the land value is insane and parking garages charge something like $10/h or so. This means for me driving into the city would be expensive, inconvenient and slow because of the traffic lights on every corner, so bus or tram wins every time over the car.
Or just can’t afford to buy a new vehicle, ironically enough. I would love little more than to get rid of my car for an EV right now but I was barely staying afloat before gas prices started to surge, now it’s just even more precarious.
Apparently motorcycles are selling really well. Ebikes are gonna be big winners in town too. Transit ridership appears to.be slightly up but lots of cuties are still below pre pandemic levels due to cuts
I would LOVE a motorcycle, but the reality is that if anything hits you, even a tiny car, you’re going to get smeared. Best case scenario, you just destroy one leg if you fall over.
I have literally had dreams about riding a motorcycle, but I just can’t balance the risk on that one. If the rider makes a small mistake, dead. If there is a foreign object in the road that you hit and go flying, dead. If a deer pops out in front of you, dead. If some crazy person in a tiny car gets mad at you, dead. If some crazy person in a big truck gets mad at you, dead.
There are so many ways to be dead and so little between you and a lot of big immovable objects. Our little meaty bodies are not meant to sustain the forces that happen in a motorcycle crash. Yeah, you should wear a good helmet and all the riding gear, but at most, it will just serve to contain the meat paste that your body will be transformed into if you get hit hard.
Yeah I lost a friend to one in college in a rather horrific crash and I’m not nearly as athletic or coordinated as he was, decided I’d always stay away from them after that happened.
But at the same time, using mopeds and motorcycles is extremely common in Central and South America, Asia, and Africa.
And many of those places have road infrastrucure as bad quality as ours.
Yeah, if 10% of US drivers just switched instantly from cars to motorcycles, that’d be quite dangerous, because most American car drivers are idiots who shouldn’t own cars or be able to drive them.
But… if 10 or 20 or 30% of US car drivers just… stop driving, full stop… and then more people switch to motorbikes…
I don’t want to justify the use of cars, but the reality is that it’s a big place here. Also, much of the place has winter. A motorcycle is more of a toy than transportation unlike other countries. A lot of people can’t afford a car and a motorcycle–hell, they can barely afford the car.
I sold my bike after getting into a head on collision in my car when some guy playing with his phone decided to smooch his headlights with mine, had I been on two wheels I’d be dead. Get a dirtbike and go off road, just as fun to twist the throttle without the traffic and road rage.
It is going to be very funny (read: horrifying) watching the American economy entirely grind to a halt, due to our car centric design of everything just completely imploding as ICE vehicle commuting itself becomes a luxury.
We’re so fucking delusional about this.
Cars are unaffordable.
Gas is unaffordable.
Public transit basically doesn’t exist outside of some major cities, but not even close to all.
If it costs more to go to work and be able to go to work, than you are paid for working, it is imminently rational to not go to work.
Just most people in general will completely lose their minds as this gets worse.
What will win?
Just get an EV or Hybrid or Motorcycle or E Bike…
Or…
No, cuz that’s gay/stupid/‘unreasonable’… ?
The problem in the US is that everything is to far from everything else thanks to low density, sprawling suburbs. Public transport works best in high density neighborhoods where they constantly have enough passengers that allows for a bus every 5 minutes. The other difference is that in my city you don’t get any free parking, because the land value is insane and parking garages charge something like $10/h or so. This means for me driving into the city would be expensive, inconvenient and slow because of the traffic lights on every corner, so bus or tram wins every time over the car.
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Or just can’t afford to buy a new vehicle, ironically enough. I would love little more than to get rid of my car for an EV right now but I was barely staying afloat before gas prices started to surge, now it’s just even more precarious.
I guess you could put it like this:
How do we improve traffic?
Raise gas prices, dramatically.
Anybody who cannot just stop driving will tell you the many many ways why that’s a terrible idea without like 15 other things done first
Apparently motorcycles are selling really well. Ebikes are gonna be big winners in town too. Transit ridership appears to.be slightly up but lots of cuties are still below pre pandemic levels due to cuts
I would LOVE a motorcycle, but the reality is that if anything hits you, even a tiny car, you’re going to get smeared. Best case scenario, you just destroy one leg if you fall over.
I have literally had dreams about riding a motorcycle, but I just can’t balance the risk on that one. If the rider makes a small mistake, dead. If there is a foreign object in the road that you hit and go flying, dead. If a deer pops out in front of you, dead. If some crazy person in a tiny car gets mad at you, dead. If some crazy person in a big truck gets mad at you, dead.
There are so many ways to be dead and so little between you and a lot of big immovable objects. Our little meaty bodies are not meant to sustain the forces that happen in a motorcycle crash. Yeah, you should wear a good helmet and all the riding gear, but at most, it will just serve to contain the meat paste that your body will be transformed into if you get hit hard.
So depressing. It looks like so much fun.
Yeah I lost a friend to one in college in a rather horrific crash and I’m not nearly as athletic or coordinated as he was, decided I’d always stay away from them after that happened.
But at the same time, using mopeds and motorcycles is extremely common in Central and South America, Asia, and Africa.
And many of those places have road infrastrucure as bad quality as ours.
Yeah, if 10% of US drivers just switched instantly from cars to motorcycles, that’d be quite dangerous, because most American car drivers are idiots who shouldn’t own cars or be able to drive them.
But… if 10 or 20 or 30% of US car drivers just… stop driving, full stop… and then more people switch to motorbikes…
Might be less of a blood bath?
I don’t want to justify the use of cars, but the reality is that it’s a big place here. Also, much of the place has winter. A motorcycle is more of a toy than transportation unlike other countries. A lot of people can’t afford a car and a motorcycle–hell, they can barely afford the car.
Now our obsession with big trucks is just stupid.
I sold my bike after getting into a head on collision in my car when some guy playing with his phone decided to smooch his headlights with mine, had I been on two wheels I’d be dead. Get a dirtbike and go off road, just as fun to twist the throttle without the traffic and road rage.
San Diego is about to increase fares and reduce service. They seem to think they have a captive audience in the poors, the disabled, the old.
Yet there are so many deaths on motorcycles. This week alone there has been at least one death a day where I live. I used to want to buy a bike. Nope.