Because distance. Bikes makes total sense in cities or just anywhere where there is a dense enough population that you can do all you want inside a 5km-10kkm area, but for a lot of north america, Australia, etc the freedom comes from being able to take any road you like and see where it ends up
@Jarix@Shellofbiomatter The overwhelming majority of trips aren’t aimless wandering in search of freedom, they’re utilitarian trips to the grocery store, library, a friend’s house, your kids’ school, etc. The percentage of people in sprawly countries who truly live too far away from daily necessities to get there by bicycle if the roads were designed for safety and comfort is far too small to justify adopting standards that force even cities to make their streets bike-unfriendly.
Just responding to why cars are seen as the vehicle of freedom.
In all things people rarely, if ever, maximize what they COULD do.
And we can disagree with those people who view it that way if we want to frame it, but I can’t visit my friends in the city by riding a bike. When I do hang with friends I’ve often gone out of my way to give people rides because it’s much better for them to use my offer of a lift home than it is to use public transit or their own mobility.
My main point though is distance is the determining factor in this equation.
Ok, then why isn’t the bullet train the symbol of freedom? You can visit friends much further away than a car can. How about motorcycles? You can visit your friends even if there’s insane traffic or the road is out.
I think cars being the symbol of freedom is unrelated to any actual utility, rather it seems based on a story advertisers tell about a car offering you control.
![[meme] Anon likes bikes](https://files.ikt.id.au/aqdemc.webp){kind=link}
Because distance. Bikes makes total sense in cities or just anywhere where there is a dense enough population that you can do all you want inside a 5km-10kkm area, but for a lot of north america, Australia, etc the freedom comes from being able to take any road you like and see where it ends up
I hundered percent did this on my bike. Ive done it in a car, but you can “take a road and see where it goes” on a bike.
@Jarix @Shellofbiomatter The overwhelming majority of trips aren’t aimless wandering in search of freedom, they’re utilitarian trips to the grocery store, library, a friend’s house, your kids’ school, etc. The percentage of people in sprawly countries who truly live too far away from daily necessities to get there by bicycle if the roads were designed for safety and comfort is far too small to justify adopting standards that force even cities to make their streets bike-unfriendly.
Just responding to why cars are seen as the vehicle of freedom.
In all things people rarely, if ever, maximize what they COULD do.
And we can disagree with those people who view it that way if we want to frame it, but I can’t visit my friends in the city by riding a bike. When I do hang with friends I’ve often gone out of my way to give people rides because it’s much better for them to use my offer of a lift home than it is to use public transit or their own mobility.
My main point though is distance is the determining factor in this equation.
Ok, then why isn’t the bullet train the symbol of freedom? You can visit friends much further away than a car can. How about motorcycles? You can visit your friends even if there’s insane traffic or the road is out.
I think cars being the symbol of freedom is unrelated to any actual utility, rather it seems based on a story advertisers tell about a car offering you control.
Because that’s a track that can’t go off the beaten path…
Neither can your car, it can only go where roads go, when traffic permits.