SILICON VALLEY: Hey, you know how we could fix transportation?
ME: By decisively shifting towards mass transit instead of having massive concrete jungles based on the premise that every single person will have their own $40,000 deathtrap of pollution?
SILICON VALLEY: No, we're gonna have the deathtraps, just without any drivers!
ME: oh...
@dnannann
Have a friend whose a civil engineer for a large metro traffic department say last week:
"nothing makes me smile like when someone complains about forty single occupant cars having to wait for a two hundred occupant light-rail to pass and I get to smugly reply, 'workin as intended'. "
@_cr0_tab @dnannann The assumption pushed is that the train/bus is always full and the cars are always single occupant. But then the train/bus has to do a return trip almost empty with the same smug fu to other commuters.
And did you ever ask yourself why people in cars don't take the train/bus. Usually because it's so demeaning they'd rather endure the delay, parking cost, etc.
It's about forcing the working class to be cattle.
Oh, I often have to take the NYC subway. I have three lines I could use yet often none are even close to providing decent service. Ride a bike, like I do.
@Silversalty @_cr0_tab The idea that public transport is something inherently demeaning is something that is both completely hogwash and restricted entirely to the United States. Any notion that public transit is a demeaning experience is solely because of personal prejudices against public transit and institutional measures which make public transit the only viable option for disadvantaged people in the U.S.
Indian here. From the capital, Delhi.
Can assure you that disdain for public transport is not restricted to America. In fact I invite you to stay for a few months here and who knows you might find a new respect for 'deathtraps' that you speak of.
In my adult life, I have been mugged some 5-6 times - each and every time while on public transport or while walking on road. Last time was as recent as November 4, 2017.
@dnannann
Since 5 years now, I generally commute by motorbike, but I also own and drive a car. So I have been safe while driving these, no matter where I go.
I use public transit only when it is prohibitively inconvenient to drive.
@Silversalty @_cr0_tab