LogFAQs > #971239971

adjl posted...

As he mentions in that video, Amsterdam went from being as car-dependent as any modern North American city in the 70's to being the closest thing around to urban planning porn. On the flip side, another one of his videos talks about a $2.2 billion highway widening project in Houston that has resulted in travel times on that highway steadily increasing since it was completed in 2011 (because induced demand). You'll probably be around for at least another 30-40 years, so even if you don't see everything become perfected (really, it won't ever be truly perfected, because needs are constantly evolving), you could at least see some considerable improvements and opportunities to not piss away billions of dollars on a strategy that's been proven time and time again to not work.

Beyond that, "why should I want an improvement I won't see myself?" is generally a pretty terrible way to look at policies like this. Most policy changes aren't going to personally benefit you, but stand to benefit society as a whole. That's just the price you pay to not be a hermit.

Tbh, Im not sure Ill be around for another 30-40 years As for how long it takes, I have no idea Especially since I believe the people with money would probably try to stop it Or would try to make it not as good, or find better ways to make money off of us Plus, Im not sure how the place on the video was before, so I dont know how much it changed But for the places Ive lived in, it would require lots of building to basically be moved in some cases to fix stuff

And while its great to help society even when I wont get anything out of it, I dont really like not seeing anything of value to me for the money Im losing Even right now, I hate losing money with no improvements I would hate to lose even more Plus, the only improvement I get is slightly better traffic (But only when the weathers nice)

adjl posted...

You don't have many *empty* parking spaces. I can pretty much guarantee enormous amounts of real estate in your city's downtown core is dedicated to parking spots that are filled by regulars who use them for their everyday commutes (whether renting them monthly or just occupying them early enough that they aren't available for more sporadic parking). Most or all single-family residential lots will include enough driveway space for at least two cars (or driveway space for one and a garage), which increases how large they need to be, and multi-unit buildings almost invariably include their own parking (because street parking just isn't adequate for them, even if not every resident has a car). I may be mistaken in this assumption if you happen to live and work in a part of the US that's significantly less dependent on cars than is typical, but I think it's more likely that you just don't notice how much space parking takes up because you've been surrounded by it your whole life and never thought to consider how wasteful it is.

The reality of car ownership is that most private cars spend the vast majority of the time not being used. They have to go somewhere during that time, and that's space that could have been housing or something with commercial value.

I dont know dependent on cars the area I live in is I do know that we have a not great public bus system where the buses seem full most of the time And we have those vans at the bus station as well for carrying people places And I think most of downtown doesnt use vehicles if they love downtown and want to go somewhere there But for everywhere else, cars are pretty essential. Like for going to and from base, and traveling on base

It is true that cars spend the most time being parked But its there when I need it Which is like anytime I need to go anywhere Haha