@kashhill how about when you violate a traffic law, your car writes you a ticket and your insurance company raises your rate the traditional way. The idea that we deserve privacy to avoid accountability 🙄
Yes, we *are* being coerced into driving, by the fact that public transit is slow and our bosses expect us to show up on time.
And no, banning cars isn't going to fix that. It's just going to make everyone even more sleep-deprived than they already are. Because public transit will still be slow and employers will still expect employees to show up on time.
@argv_minus_one @tob @kashhill there are many ham-fisted ways to go about doing anything, including #BanCars or protecting people from corporate surveillance. Exploding or just vanishing every car in an instant with no warning would be one of the more cruel and stupid choices but the buses would instantly work great and your employers would be riding them too. Some stupider ways to do it might still come out better than the status-quo of cascading policy failure that is #motonormativity
> but the buses would instantly work great
No, they wouldn't. Buses aren't slow because they get stuck in traffic. They're slow because they're taking a circuitous route to a place that's vaguely near your destination, instead of going directly to your destination. You can't fool geometry, son.
@argv_minus_one @tob @kashhill well those buses would need to straighten their routes but probably you would need more capacity anyway if you're somewhere with welfare-only bus lines like this. Stopping for passengers cuts the speed somewhat but without getting delayed by cars, they would be faster than an e-bike, which is faster than rush-hour traffic already, pops.
If an e-bike is faster than rush-hour traffic, then I'll have to concede. Once traffic congestion gets that bad, cars become ineffective, and you may as well not have them, or at least not use them for commuting to work.
But that's not a thing in the suburb where I live and work. Around here, an e-bike will not outrun even rush-hour traffic.
@argv_minus_one @tob @kashhill even in the truly sprawling suburbs, is it really faster to drive and then find time to exercise to stay healthy, or losing years of health plus the added years before retirement? Cars do ~7-10mph. Half of all trips are less than 3 miles and some of that is in suburbs that could adapt to have more daily needs within easy e-bike distance and more functional transit from hubs on main corridors with bike parking garages for a fraction of car park-n-ride costs.
Cars do not do 10mph on uncongested suburban roads. More like 20~30mph. E-bikes do not outrun cars on suburban roads.
A lot of those 3-mile trips are grocery runs. Most people can't carry 150+ pounds of groceries without some kind of self-powered vehicle pulling the load. Nor is there sufficient space on a bus to carry a grocery load.
Grocery loads could be decreased if tap water was safe to drink, but it isn't, so we have to buy bottled water.
1/2
@argv_minus_one by the time you work to pay for the car and fuel etc, the overall speed is more like 10mph. Not everyone can just choose to swap an e-bike trip for a car trip (too bad) but it's nowhere near as difficult as many people think, & doesn't need to be so far away e.g. we used to drive past the local store because with the difficulty of parking + lack of selection, a store farther away was easier, but we now bike more frequent trips for fresher veggies there
@argv_minus_one and the exercise can be more or less if you have plenty of motor+battery but just working easy 20-40min activity into your day with an extra 5-20 min total travel time (iff-with-3-f's parking a car was easy), reduced wear on the car, etc. It's not for everybody but the cars-always-only transportation governance keeps a lot of people from having that option.
40 minutes of biking per day isn't going to do much good for your health if you spend the rest of the day in a chair.
Moreover, it is ridiculously optimistic to assume that most people's workplaces are only 20 extra minutes away by bike. Not even close. GMaps estimates 14 minutes by car and 54 minutes by bike.
I would not call car parking easy, but it is not particularly time- or energy-consuming.
Cars are favored because they are fast, and alternatives are not. Simple as that.
@argv_minus_one @enobacon "40 minutes of biking per day isn't going to do much good for your health if you spend the rest of the day in a chair." I'm pretty sure this is totally false.
I mean, I think I agree with everything else you're saying here, don't get me wrong.
@ech @argv_minus_one @enobacon Not that we can believe everything on the Internet but: https://www.eatingwell.com/benefits-of-exercise-30-min-every-day-8384757
One of many. "It's pointless to exercise because I otherwise sit around all day," is about the stupidest thing I've heard :p