I have been a bike or pedestrian commuter for all but one of the 14 years I’ve had a commute at all and I gotta say the year I had to use a car to cross town kinda sucked and if the bike lanes had been better or a bus existed I would have done that every day instead
never mind commuting to work, in the US just acquiring the raw materials to feed yourself or going to the gym or park often involves a soul-killing 30-minute drive
I'm really trying to transition to biking more where I would drive, and it's good but the city is *not* designed for bikes. (And where there are bike lanes, the cops park their big SUVs in 'em)
I've had to drive a car for one reason or another the last three days in a row and it is far and away my least favourite way to get places. It's just mildly stressful, totally unproductive sitting.
I’ve not used a car for nearly 25 years living in cities with decent public transport &/or prioritised road infrastructure. I do not miss car-centric living.
I cycle to work every day. Hamburg is far from being a cyclist's paradise, but it is getting better. Last year I sold my car, since I had realized that I hadn't used it for more than two years.
22yr has been getting into Strong Towns and the Not Just Bikes YouTube channels--their focus is on exactly this. He's also working at city hall here now. I think he's finding his inner Leslie Knope.
I bike-commuted through very bike-unfriendly areas for a few years because I was young and stubborn and rather stupid. I would not do it today. Driving still sucks though.
I really wish the US had gone with the European idea of driving *around* cities instead of destroying mostly Black neighborhoods so our highways would go *through* cities.
Especially when decades later we often build bypass highways around cities.
Firenze, Venezia, Köln, and Amsterdam (to name a few I've visited) all are amazing and largely (or entirely) car free in the center.
I can't think of a single place here in the US that even approaches that.
In Beijing, dominated by electric vehicles, people could converse (not shouting!) across busy intersections. Apart from all the other ills, cars isolate us.
Turns out this is what Eisenhower had in mind - to pass the program his staff compromised without his knowledge to allow interstate highways to be part of urban renewal projects, & he was surprised/shocked when he saw a city being torn up for one. (Of course he still bears responsibility)
I find it very frustrating because, at least as a pedestrian it almost gets it right, I think the problem is that having the cars as a focus means it feels like it is 30-40% car park. Like if there is some way to improve public transport and remove cars and it would be good.
Having known a resident, the best description I can give you is "What the world thinks English food is like", inoffensive but bland and devoid of flavour. Being built on a clean sheet it lacks the historical quirks & oddities, street names that make kids snigger, & other stuff we actually like.
It had its moments. I lived and worked there for a decade, and although planned, the old villages were still there. It was good for cyclists, and surprisingly close to nature. The downside was the residential areas were packed in, and older temporary ones were never replaced.
"hey how about we murder less drivers, pedestrians and the general planet?" - "this rug got another corner i could fit something ugly under, hold my beer".
11/10 logic...
If cities become easy/fast to drive in, induced demand will make it difficult and slow to drive in within a few years. Both goals are achievable if public transit and walking/biking infrastructure remains superior to driving, then those who still want to drive will be even more comfortable: win/win
I kinda liked the idea of people who like cars can move to Auckland and queue on their motorways and everyone else can have trams and trains and bike paths.
nothing ay -- that was the world in the 2000s Trolley buses every minute in Wellington, traffic jams in auckland.
Now we have trains in auckland, cancelled busses in Wellington
I suppose you have been to several European cities? Some of them now put people at the centre. I find it so relaxing as a pedestrian to have wide spaces.
On the other hand, I've heard of cities in the world where the sidewalks aren't even connected, so you have to take a car even for a few metres.
