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Who said that it was "noble"?
I am mainly talking economics here.
Car owners lose wealth thanks to their (bad) habit of driving everywhere, and so does the country in the long term, with all the knock-on effects that I have listed - see also the "Americans have Huge Holes in their pockets" article from Financial Sense.
How poor does you country have to get before you wake up?
I will repost my first post in the thread since you seemed to miss it, I will even cut out a few questions to make it easier for you.
How much would my 5 bedroom home on 3.6 acres cost in a walkable neighborhood?
How many acres have been paved over in that walkable neighborhood?
Please tell me how I can save $8,000 - 10,000 per annum by living in that walkable neighborhood?
I look forward to your answer
You better go back and read again my friend,
and check many links that I have provided
One thing that you have failed to take into account is how vast the United States is. More than 70% of our citizens live in sub-urban and rural areas. This is a direct result of the freedom that the automobile has given us. If you compare Singapore and Hong Kong, where people are stacked up like cords of wood, to our wide open spaces with room to breath... there's no choice! Where's my keys? Shall I take the Honda, the Buick, or the F350 to the beach... We are a carcentric nation, and that will never change.
I lived in a dense neighborhood once for a few years. It sucked. I am not a sardine. I don't like stacked living either. I love the outdoors, and don't spend much time inside. In the dense living, I felt claustrophobic. Nearly all entertainment is man-made and requires electricity. Blah. I like to have a yard and green space between me and the next guy. I live to hike and backpack and ski. This requires I drive to such locales as public transit won't take me there. And I go to such places a lot.
Plus, I work in aviation. Have you seen the neighborhoods around airports? They suck. High crime, filthy, low value, noisy. I've always had a somewhat long commute to work simply so I could live in nice areas. I'm not about to live next to my job simply to give up my car.
Redraven
Whatever you think I said, is wide of the mark
I am not speaking of "one size fits all" solutions - just making it easier for people to live with Cars.
You have said it well:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redraven
I haven't read all the posts, and don't plan to, but the OP is very obviously NOT
Then there is the much desired "public transportation" issue.
In many places, even though such transportation exists, it is often pretty much useless, because the bus schedule does not match the work schedule. We had just that scenario when we lived in town: In order to ride the bus, wife would have had to leave for work nearly an hour early, and would have half an hour or more to wait once she got to work. Then she would have had to wait nearly 45 minutes after work to catch the bus home. If she was late getting off the floor, the next bus was an hour away. Such public transportation was completely unusable!
Unfortunately,
THAT is exactly the sort of public transport I found when I started looking into Public Transport options in and around Charlotte - in places like Rock Hill and Baxter.
No one wants to be a slave to a schedule like that.
In Hong Kong, where I live now, I walk 7 minutes to the MTR, and there will be a train within 1-7 minutes to take me where I want to go. That's public transport that works, and America has a lot of catching up to do. Not the least, in public attitudes towards transport.
I lived in a dense neighborhood once for a few years. It sucked. I am not a sardine. I don't like stacked living either. I love the outdoors, and don't spend much time inside. In the dense living, I felt claustrophobic. Nearly all entertainment is man-made and requires electricity. Blah. I like to have a yard and green space between me and the next guy. I live to hike and backpack and ski. This requires I drive to such locales as public transit won't take me there. And I go to such places a lot.
Plus, I work in aviation. Have you seen the neighborhoods around airports? They suck. High crime, filthy, low value, noisy. I've always had a somewhat long commute to work simply so I could live in nice areas. I'm not about to live next to my job simply to give up my car.
That's all fine that you know what you like.
Do you need a car for a decent life? If so, you may have a problem someday.
The areas around airports are certainly not a problem in HK.
The US is a poor third world country now, when it comes to transportation infrastructure. Travel a little, and you will soon discover that.
That article is an exaggeration, but people here are now pushing the government hard on this issue.
My real point was that the Pollution in China, is largely a consequence of its being "the workshop to the world", esepecially on heavy manufacturing that does generate much of the bad air.
That, and the need to burn coal for electricity.
You are lucky to live in a country which has less of that sort of pollution, but then all the driving in the US is certainly not helping air quality.
One thing that you have failed to take into account is how vast the United States is. More than 70% of our citizens live in sub-urban and rural areas. This is a direct result of the freedom that the automobile has given us. If you compare Singapore and Hong Kong, where people are stacked up like cords of wood, to our wide open spaces with room to breath... there's no choice! Where's my keys? Shall I take the Honda, the Buick, or the F350 to the beach... We are a carcentric nation, and that will never change.
China will be just like us, by choice, soon.
The US made a Bad Choice in building out the suburbs.
It seemed like the right choice when oil was cheap and abundant. But the US is now saddled with a very expensive and outmoded "living arrangement" (the Suburbs), that is driving the country towards bankruptcy (again.)
"The suburbs are the greatest mal-investment in the history of mankind"
(I paraphase. Watch the video to get it right.)
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