Cars Suck.* Here's Why

[@fouglasdournet]

After moving from Tulsa to Seattle, I assumed the public transit up here was the best it could get. That was until we traveled to Europe this summer and realized that no one in major cities walks more than 10 minutes to a grocery store or bodega, and people spend next-to-no money on intracity transit. Feels bad man

[@eryngo.urbanism]

We definitely have a long way to go, but I believe we can do it

[@OutragedPufferfish]

What's a bodega?

[@BalooUriza]

Seattle transit sucks compared to Trimet down in Portland, and Trimet blows goats for Trimet fare, then walks home because most routes don't run Saturdays or Sundays.

[@TheAmericanCatholic]

@@OutragedPufferfish a hipster word derived from Spanish word for wine cellar to mean a corner store in a Hispanic area

[@OutragedPufferfish]

@@TheAmericanCatholic haha

[@elena_iacobucci]

As an Italian I think our Country is seriously car infested (especially Rome) with not so great transit, with the exception of Milan. But I understand what you mean if compared with the US. Great video!

[@eryngo.urbanism]

Oh for sure, Italy has a long way to go as well, but in my experience it's still leagues ahead of most of the US when it comes to walkability and transit. I'm sure there's a lot of better examples I could bring up, but Italy is a place I've personally experienced and can therefore speak about with a bit of confidence.

[@GirtonOramsay]

The main difference with more rundown European nations is the walkability and public transit being a viable option to driving. So many cities are like Tulsi. My entire home state of Florida is basically the same with 30-60 minute headway on bus routes

[@-iIIiiiiiIiiiiIIIiiIi-]

Is that a Bologna in your pants, or are you just here for the monthly shake-down?

[@TheAmericanCatholic]

@@-iIIiiiiiIiiiiIIIiiIi- ?

[@alcidesforever]

I agree with you (not being Italian, but having visited several Italian cities during holidays/vacations), but just imagine how horrible American cities are if this American citizen points to Rome as an example for American cities. I love Italy and Rome by the way, not trying to be negative about Italy. Just pointing out an observation.

[@DonVitoCS2workshop]

Loved the ending that shows just how stupidly long people have to sit and do nothing just because traffic lights are designed for car traffic

[@BlueGrovyle]

It's even worse if you're not in a car too. Once you finally get the green light, you have to make sure the driver turning right can see you so they don't run you over.

[@Teracosa]

Nice video Kyler! I have been recently reminded of how isolating car-centric cities can be after moving to LA from Berkeley. I did a run through a wealthy neighborhood the other day, and they didn't even have SIDEWALKS! Meanwhile I was running on the road with cars passing me at 40 mph. The density, speed, and lack of support for pedestrians engendered by car-centric design in LA makes life as a walking human much more difficult. I'm given the impression that social stratification is inflamed in car-centric culture because of this increased isolation. I'd love to see you dive deeper into this topic in the future.

[@eryngo.urbanism]

I'm glad you enjoyed! It's crazy how isolating car-centric design is. I feel like we miss out on a lot of random little connections we could be making while walking around and interacting with the city because for some reason we've decided everyone should be in their own little separate enclosure as they move around the city.

[@Teracosa]

@@eryngo.urbanism exactly! I don't think the urban planning of modern US cities accounted for this. We're living with the long-term effects - now it's our turn to learn from them.

[@eryngo.urbanism]

I hope you enjoyed! Let me know how you think we can get rid of car dependency in a place like Tulsa for good

[@jayjackson5705]

Start small, start local, get political champions and advocates to help. Id suggest starting with closing 1 street for a few summer weekends with the goal of permanent closure. It can snowball from there.

[@theurbanspokesman]

What I am doing is trying to get some attainable urbanism on one of the streets in my neighborhood. I want to get a protective bike lane on one of the streets. We partnered with the local transportation advocacy group and created a petition and gathered 2000 signatures from people living in my neighborhood. Then we asked our city council woman if she would support the safe and protected bike lane we are asking for. Now we are trying to get the community board and the local churches to work with us on this project. 😁

[@eryngo.urbanism]

@@theurbanspokesman That's awesome! A community-based approach almost always works better than something top-down. I wish you luck!

[@theurbanspokesman]

@@eryngo.urbanism Thanks! Sometimes a top down approach is necessary. I am not sure how I feel about people being able to veto traffic safety and efficiency…particularly in minority neighborhoods where we often get left out of traffic safety, affordable urbanism and walkability. My goal was to try to do a community oriented approach and maybe get everyone on the same page so we could get something safe and useful for people without the friction.

[@NebulousCrafter]

I'm starting this the process happen in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I think Tulsa can do it for sure

[@antonioortiz3654]

I’ve gotten super into urbanism after spending 3 months in Europe earlier this year. And honestly, coming back to America has felt like a total downgrade. I really love your unique perspective. I follow a lot of urbanists but it’s great hearing from someone who’s my age for a change. We’ve got a long way to go in the US but I’m confident that our generation can make a big push towards creating better urban environments. Excited to keep watching!

[@mindstalk]

I'm in a US area where a supermarket and various shops is 9 minutes away. Very walkable by US standards but I'm going "why am I passing nothing but houses for 9 whole minutes? Where are any corner stores or laundromats?"

[@shieldgenerator7]

6:27 "Not Just Cars" LOL i get that reference!

[@Mgameing123]

NJB!

[@dac56]

Love this first video dude! The quality is that of a professional TV show. You absolutely knocked it out of the park once again

[@CuzzaMCYT]

Brilliant. I've Subscribed. This is definitely where you should be focusing your YT energy. I love hearing you talk on these subjects!

[@SURFACEFUSION_mc]

Oh, don't worry. There will still be more Minecraft stuff to come. But I'm glad you enjoyed this completely different kind of content as well!

[@CuzzaMCYT]

@@SURFACEFUSION_mc Yassss!

[@naturallyherb]

Such an awesome video! I was recommended to this through watching another urbanist channel, City Beautiful. Watching this video definitely brings a lot of thoughts at once, and although car dependency is quite a complex issue, there are a number of things that I want to point out. First off, I watch a lot of other urbanist channels like Not Just Bikes, and Alan Fisher, and I find that good transit and good land use are interdependent on each other. The first issue with a typical car-dependent city is that a lot of legacy pre-WWII infrastructure that were pedestrian friendly were bulldozed for the car, namely building Interstate highways, and lots of parking lots. Racial segregation also contributed to redlining and the like, using the new highways as something to destroy neighborhoods that had long existed. It's obvious that freeways destroy walkability and the many issues it brings, so I won't go too deep into this one. It all goes down with the lobbying from General Motors, the streetcar conspiracy they campaigned on, while in the process destroying many functioning transit systems. The second point to land use, and this makes me cringe a lot, is the absurd amount of parking lots, within downtown, often occupying full city blocks. Parking lots do not employ anyone and as such, bring in little to no tax revenue for the city. When I first saw on Reddit of a photo of Little Rock, Arkansas with all the downtown parking lots highlighted, I was absolutely floored and shocked. Like how can a city be so wasteful in terms of land use? It just looks plain ugly and makes traffic much worse. Turns out, as I explored further, this seems to be the norm across many cities in the USA. There is a famous comparison photo of Kansas City before and after, where the before photo was taken around 1900, which shows a vibrant downtown that resembles a European city center. The after photo was taken in 2000 and all but one building were bulldozed, turning the street into a stroad, and seas of asphalt and car parking all around. I currently live in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and it's one of the most transit-friendly metro areas on the continent. What I am most proud of my city are the very successful anti-freeway revolts in the 1960-70s, where many people protested against highways that would destroy so many neighborhoods, and thanks to them, no freeway was ever built through the city center of Vancouver. A decade after that, in the 1980s, the SkyTrain was built, transforming the whole metro area to be much more transit friendly, thanks to mixed-use walkable developments built around many rail transit stations. The SkyTrain could carry the equivalent of a 22 lane freeway while taking up a tiny amount of space: it is a fully automated system that runs trains every 3 minutes, and is just so user friendly as a whole. There are some small issues mostly around noise, but that could be fixed easily with higher walls around the guideways, and enclosures around rail switches. I think the definition of true freedom while living in a city is the ability to walk or bike around the city for short trips, while having the ability to hop on public transit for longer trips, all without a car. I don't have much idea of what the cost of living is like in Tulsa, but I can imagine with all the car dependency and car infrastructure, that it is a place (at least what appears to me) to be astronomically expensive to live in. A really good point you brought up is how the city wastes so much money on car infrastructure that so little remains for social services, like mental health services, community events, and the like. I've done public speaking on mental health to schools and community groups, and I often mention how car dependency is one of the biggest causes of bad mental health, and just poor health overall. If a city is more walkable and transit-friendly, then there could be more revenue that could be put towards community and social services. It can be hard to turn a car-dependent city into a more walkable one, but eliminating things like single-family zoning, removing highways and replacing them with high quality rail transit, and encourage mixed-use developments, would be a good start. I also really liked how you mentioned your experience in Italy and the amount of freedom there is without requiring a car for everything. I also recommend a visit to the Netherlands, where they do biking and transit even better than Italy, and Netherlands is a country I learned a lot about from Not Just Bikes. Humans have lived in walkable communities for millennia. Car dependency just goes against human nature.

[@tombhonsdiwala9147]

Great content for such a small channel. Good editing and content delivery. Must have been very time consuming for an individual. Hope you keep growing.

[@jarjar7609]

Cars don't suck, having to depend on one to do everything us what sucks!

[@durece100]

Yes it is.

[@SeaBassTian]

I love your content especially the bit at the end showing the sheer monotony of waiting for the light at a suburban stroad! As someone who doesn't drive, I briefly considered moving to Tulsa for the Tulsa Remote program but after researching it, I deduced that even if I lived downtown it would be a struggle!

[@austinmosby1567]

This channel is gonna blow UP!

[@Emzolina1324]

#bringpublictransporttotheUS

[@NebulousCrafter]

I live in Stillwater and use my bike to get around campus a lot. Once you get outside of Oklahoma State University's campus Stillwater starts to become less friendly to bikes and pedestrians. This evident at the high school where there are few crosswalks at common crossing points for the students during lunch

[@beatrizperez244]

editing on another level 😎

[@definitelynotacrab7651]

You're not free if the only option you have is drive a car.

[@dranziken]

glad I found this channel, I like what you're doing here! subbed

[@pbase36]

As much as I agree about your points made on how cars are quite sucky, you also point out why it's going to be hard to get rid of them. Maintenance, tolls, fuel, insurance, tickets, registration, not to mention the purchasing of a car... all of that is money in someone's pocket. Many different agencies and industries are dependent on OUR car dependency. It's going to be difficult to unravel that tapestry. Difficult, but perhaps not impossible.

[@highway2heaven91]

These same people could make money from manufacturing bikes, privatizing rail lines (like Brightline), actually focusing on stopping crime, creating bike insurance and using some of the oil to generate electricity. Plus some people would still continue to use cars so these industries wouldn’t completely go away. Europe and Asia still has car manufacturers.

[@brandoncrockett6266]

Okc resident OU goer here, as a environmental sustainability major really cool to see fellow Oklahomans w worried about our own state. Wanting to go into urban planning as well after I graduate, one day me and you can flesh out a train between the two cities

[@Ranman242]

Looking forward to future content from you! And the Minecraft sounds are a nice touch.

[@Nico_M.]

Europe and the US view the phrase "you can be whatever you want to be" under different lights. In Europe, it's "you can be whatever you want to be, we'll help you get there", while in the US it's more like "you can be whatever you want to be, don't bother me".

[@theuncalledfor]

"You can be whatever you want to be, so long as you're rich. Otherwise, get back in the burger kitchen, wage-slave."

[@meadowrosepony9609]

I really like the editing you did on this video! It looks great and the content is good as usual!

[@arenomusic]

This is gold. Any tips for starting projects like this in our own cities?

[@eryngo.urbanism]

Try some civic involvement (email city officials, find out what projects are already in the works and find out what you can do to support those projects, etc.). Also, try to start winning over business and home owners to your ideas. A bottom-up approach led by the community almost always works better than a top-down approach where the city prescribes a solution to a specific area.

[@UrbanJerseyGuy]

Your city doesn't have enough polygons

[@joestrike8537]

I love living in NYC, for all the reasons this video describes - multiple subway lines in walking distance, a bus route right outside my door & just about everything I need in walking distance. If you live anywhere outside a major, dense city, you're forced to own a car - at which point the banks own you (auto loan), the oil companies own you ("fill 'er up!") and the insurance companies own you for that required coverge - which I think is why those entities made sure the US went car, highway and suburb-crazy after WW2.

[@vincewhite5087]

Our Italian guide mentioned most Italians have a Vespa (for day time driving) & an evening car. Yes, traffic is still crazy in Rome. Every Rome resident we met while staying their had cars & often more then one & vespas. And don’t get me started on the suburbs

[@theurbanspokesman]

OMG!! Your videos are sooo good. I need to step my game up on my channel. WOW!!! 😮😊❤❤❤

[@mattmullin928]

Post EU car beefs are the best

[@jihoon123ful]

Suburbs are the biggest factor where mostly only cars are needed unless they build transit system within the suburbs. Then ppl will stop needing cars.

[@Steeeve_]

Minibuses that can be called from an app at a price somewhere between a bus and an uber is what I would love to see.

[@uzin0s256]

one of the reasons why NYC is so alive is because barely any space is given to cars. Same with my city of San Francisco. But when i lived in Texas. Nothing looked alive. Simply because most of Texas is for cars. Cars arent the problem. Its car dependency. Glad to be in SF.

[@anewagora]

Going from biking, walking, transit most of my life in the Twin Cities to car-consumed infrastructure around Austin, TX left me nearly destitute. It got to the point it would be better for me to sleep outside in the city center so I could be by work instead of constantly trying to desperately travel the long distances. Scale really is the key problem. I kept trying to find jobs much further north but still in the city so I could tolerate a shorter bike+bus commute until I could move into the city, but it would only take 15 min off the 1.5 hours despite being a dozen neighborhoods further north. What was happening? The car-consumed infrastructure is so devastating here that it stretches the whole city out, so the closer you get to the far ends of the city, the much further you have to travel. I think the north suburbs are particularly disturbing and aren't actually places where human beings live, but wastelands that masquerade as the illusion of "civilization". The giant triple-wide highways are empty 95% of the time. Pretty shocking and disgusting to witness such anti-human dystopia.

[@michaelglover2871]

I'm glad that you pointed out that electric cars aren't much better than gas. People think they are the magic fix, but they just perpetuate the same problems. 🤷‍♂️

[@n_ux]

After me getting in a fender bender rear end. I tried to get my car bumper repaired. Since they couldn't repair it. They gave me the option to pay me directly for the cost of damages. Or sell car and get a few hundred dollar more. I decided to keep my car. They paid my about 3k direct deposited. Now I have been looking a different forms of trasportation. The EUC (electric unicycle). Models are different depending on price. The one I put a deposit for an Inmotion V13. Gets about 124 miles on a full charge. If riden conservatively. Top speed is 55 mph. The wheel weighs about 110 lbs. But I'm 6'3" 220+lbs. So it shouldn't be an issue. I have a class CM license. And a motorcycle helmet. I just need some other safety gear. Hope people look into the alternative.

[@HalfDoughnut]

great ending on the note of how fun it is to wait in traffic

[@pcongre]

That's a great inaugural video, keep it up! And please visit Tokyo too when you get the chance : ) Cheers from Stockholm

[@eryngo.urbanism]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed! I would love to visit both Tokyo and Stockholm! Maybe when my Patreon takes off, I can take a few business trips for research purposes!

[@mormytheoutcast1784]

I live in the greater Houston area. My neighborhood doesn’t even have sidewalks oof

[@eryngo.urbanism]

Big oof, we can do better than that

[@danieldaniels7571]

Neither does most of my neighborhood in Phoenix

[@DRL1320]

Neither does my neighborhood in Nashville - and the houses date from the 1930s. And the nearest bus route is a mile away on a Stroad, but our family of four does make a point to use it routinely. (We treat a local grocery parking lot as our park and ride.) Also, it is literally the best route in the city with buses every ten minutes - super frequent for Nashville where other routes are twice an hour.

[@enjoyslearningandtravel7957]

neither does my neighborhood near Orlando Florida!,,,!!!!!!!!! No sidewalks or just sidewalks and one side that are very narrow

[@VGF80]

Driving is way more fun when there's fewer cars on the road and when you don't have to drive to commute to work.

[@dansugardude2655]

Matt Sheldon from Become Elite played three seasons in Tulsa, from 2019 to 2021. He had to drive everywhere every time we wanted to go anywhere. Now that he plays for Charleston Battery, he drives everywhere for every trip because Charleston is just as car-dependent as Tulsa! 😱

[@DRL1320]

Bravo, Kyler, on a great start for your urbanism channel in the American context. I’ll be following you. Me: I’m a Nashville native of sixty years - so similar context but another generation. My brother and SIL are in Tulsa (at the corner of Stroadville and Cul-de-sac down near the Memorial Drive Costco). From my visits, I know the Tulsa scene a little. We both have a great laboratories for a life of reform work. Excelsior!

[@Ash-so2sr]

The economic factor is what weights heavier when city planning, because capitlaism allows anyone with money to buy land and build anything there is little rational human centered need in business. Instead the cheaper lands must be outside the city limits. And the more cars are sold he more highways will be needed. Etc...

[@118Combination]

So surreal and cool to see my hometown and urbanism collide. Appreciate the work and effort you're pouring into this! We need more people like you to bring about change! Being ignorant about the finer details concerning walkability and urbanism, are there any books/articles you'd recommend to a relative novice? Thanks again!

[@eryngo.urbanism]

Definitely start with Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. I would also recommend Walkable City by Jeff Speck and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer by Charles Marohn (although I haven't gotten around to reading that one yet).

[@118Combination]

@@eryngo.urbanism awesome, I’ll have to snag those and read them. thanks!

[@electricerger]

69- Me: Nice ...of those deaths were here. Me: Not nice

[@boomerix]

Rome has a Bus frequency of 30 minutes. The Budapest Tram Line 4-6 with a frequency of 2 minutes during busy hours, 5-8 minutes on off hours and 10 minutes between midnight and 6am: "pfff, pathetic". lol, but really the only Buses in Budapest that have a 30 or 60 minute frequency are the night Buses that run from midnight to 5am. During the day the least frequent routes (usually in outer suburbs) run every 20 minutes, most other lines average around 5-12 minutes. I was actually quite shocked to hear that in Rome you have to wait up to 15 minutes for a Bus.

[@shieldgenerator7]

this video is a great summary of everything i hate about cars and car-centric infrastructure

[@lukasrojko5455]

Because you can't drive. But there're people who enjoy driving around

[@shieldgenerator7]

@@lukasrojko5455 i have a drivers license and can drive, but i dont like doing it and i get that theres people who like to drive, but theres also plenty of people who are forced to drive bc theres no alternative in their city.

[@OutragedPufferfish]

I live in the Netherlands and have no car or even a driver's license (although I'd like to have a license). I use my bicycle or public transit for transportation. I go to work by bike, about 20 minutes. Sometimes my bike is broken and I have to walk, about 40 minutes. I'm amazed at how the same route is completely different when I walk instead of ride the bicycle. It feels epic and adventurous, almost like a medieval journey. If even a bike is really fast and makes you distracted, bored and apathetic to the world around you, I cannot imagine how using a car every day affects your psychology. I'll never own a car even if I get a driver's license and enough money to afford a car. Staying human is more important to me.

[@safe-keeper1042]

Same story here. Bergen, Norway. No license. Public transport or my own to feet take me everywhere I need to go. If I need something big or heavy brought to me, I just have it delivered to me.

[@brucenadeau2172]

@@safe-keeper1042 the trucks still need roads

[@highway2heaven91]

@@brucenadeau2172 And they’ll be able to use those roads to deliver much faster since they won’t be clogged with traffic and they’ll travel a shorter distance in a denser city.

[@pineapplepizza27]

thought that was Scotty kilmer in the thumbnail

[@saketjawaji1557]

waiting for @notjustbikes discover this channel

[@Bobspineable]

What the US could do is become what cities are like in China or Korea. They are drivable, dense, walkable, and good transit. Only downside is roads are massive. Biking is also not a things. Scooters took over that.

[@louisinese]

The ending is exactly how it is waiting on someone while the light is green 😆

[@linuxman7777]

no mention of mixed use, even more important than density

[@eryngo.urbanism]

True, I oversimplified a lot here, so that's definitely a topic for an upcoming video!

[@linuxman7777]

@@eryngo.urbanism Even low density rural areas were more walkable than today's suburban 5 over ones because everyone has to go to walmart, as there are no stores near the building

Copenhagen is an excellent example of a non-car depending city.

[@wenzl4]

i live in an eastern european city, im all for better public transport since the one that is here is garbage but also other choices than cars. i enjoy driving and i wouldnt mind few less people on the roads, also diversity of transport would be the best solution for this common isssue

[@logansteele5537]

Great video!!

[@kaitlynwebb9497]

Take aways: car=bad jorney≠ journey

[@nikoskoufos2588]

I'm all for more urban and walkable areas but have no idea what I can do to advocate for that change. In addition to mailing my representative we else can I do

[@eryngo.urbanism]

Nice! Talk to people you know to get them thinking about these kinds of issues. Join a local advocacy group. That doesn't exist in your area? Try and get one started! Reach out to your city planners to see what projects they have in the works. If your city has public transit, try to start using it to replace a few of your car trips. You could even study up and become a planner yourself!

[@wturner777]

2:39 "NO END TO ROAD WORK" 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@aglaiabiagi4191]

There is no need to look to Europe looking for good examples to solve urban problems. There are cities in Latin America doing this very well already, for years. The city of Curitiba in southern Brazil, with a population of approximately 4,153,033, has stood out and its solutions have been replicated around the world.

[@KRYMauL]

Saying cars suck is the wrong approach instead adopt Jeff Speck’s language and learn about how amazing cars can be ie: This may seem like an odd moment to admit this, but I love cars… I have always owned the best-handling car I could reasonably afford. I especially love high-revving Japanese sports cars… I [have] no reason to break my car out of its garage. Between walking, biking, and our extensive Metro transit system, driving [is] rarely the most convenient choice. -Jeff Speck Then from this approach work to achieve what he started.

[@eryngo.urbanism]

You're right! I've actually been thinking about doing a video on this, challenging the narrative that I myself have fed into that cars are always bad, and to discuss what role cars could play in a healthy multi-modal city. That's why I made sure to include the asterisk for now. It's just very challenging to convey that kind of nuance in a 10 minute KZbin video.

[@KRYMauL]

@@eryngo.urbanism The asterisk was a good call, but I think better language is cars are cool, parking is not.

[@eryngo.urbanism]

@@KRYMauL I still want to make sure I'm promoting change. Tulsa is a city designed to be navigated exclusively by cars. If we change nothing, cars will continue to dominate. Until we reach a multi-modal equilibrium here in Tulsa, I will continue being vocally critical of exclusively car-centric design.

[@KRYMauL]

@@eryngo.urbanism Idk, the best remedy for change seem to organizing a cycling club who routinely dominates the road and races. This is because it eventually forces the city to take biking seriously, and not just as a passing reference. Alternatively, bike share is good too, but only after a club is created.

[@Shaphi95]

Taht part about Italy was VERY COOL, but Tlusa and Rome are two VERY deffirant palecs. It's NOT COMPARABLE! Tslua was diesigend for CARS, and it will awlyas be a CAR CENTRIC CITY. Cghanang taht wood be a NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK!

[@NotShowingOff]

I used to think sky scrapers made a city urban, but then I visited Munich

[@Daniel-ci4cd]

The only reason I visited Oklahoma C. was because of light rail.

[@timbryan6013]

This guy is the anti-scotty kilmer

[@Onkoe]

Also from Tulsa! I would love to see a video on strip malls or places like Tulsa Hills.

[@eryngo.urbanism]

Definitely, you'll be interested to see my next video, which focuses on a different problem area along 71st.

[@Sanginius23]

tbh the Public Transport in Rome is quite awful for an EU Capital City.. Good luck for your Channel!

[@eryngo.urbanism]

Oh yeah I'm aware! But it's still great by US standards, and I have personal experience with it. As I get the chance to travel more, I'll showcase even better examples!

[@Snowshowslow]

Within the city, it's not great. But Rome does have amazing train connections to neighbouring cities (and countries), IMHO. Obviously, it's not Switzerland...

[@cpeterson6859]

Amazing video! A delectable blend of entertaining and informative. But if we move away from the car-centric design of this blessed country how will the poor CEO's of the multi-billion world wide car industry survive!? Henry Ford is rolling in his grave

[@abigailmilovancevic926]

No way, where did you study in Rome? I’ve been living & studying here a while. While it is way easier to be without a car here, the public transit is often difficult & routes are not straightforward… still use it though!

[@eryngo.urbanism]

I did a special architecture program through the University of Oklahoma, our classes were in the former Jewish ghetto just south of the Pantheon and we lived in Trastevere. We also did a lot of traveling around Italy. Overall, it was an incredible experience. And yeah, Rome's transit system has a lot of room for improvement, but it's significantly better than what I'm used to seeing in cities around the US.

[@lukasrojko5455]

What if I prefer living in single family house in suburbs or countryside? I don't want to live in a city in cramped apartment. Plus I enjoy driving.

[@handsfortoothpicks]

The thing about American suburbs is that they are car dependant. It's fine to like suburbs and cars. But teens and kids who can't drive will be independently crippled because they can't go anywhere it also includes people who are old or have vision issues.

[@vincewhite5087]

Even though most Italians drive or at least own cars, same as Dutch, at least there is options available.car ownership in Netherland is very high & Dutch drivers are the happiest drivers in the world. Maybe because, more people who don’t need to drive don’t have to. Maybe because there are less self entitled Red Necks, who feels it’s a good giving entitlement right. ???

[@MofoMan2000]

Oh, man. I'm playing Minecraft on my other monitor while watching this video, and the Minecraft sounds kept spooking me.

[@homesinternational8015]

Great work there. But make sure to remind people that public transit is always in development. A city always keeps changing demographicaly, economicaly, sanitarily (heard covid destroyed a lot of ridership on US transit lines). So once a nice network is in place, it continuously must evolve to keep adapting. It's not a one-time investment, it's a commitment, and in order to obtain this in the US, you need a radical change in society. I'm a bit pessimistic about this :s

[@eryngo.urbanism]

I actually have a video about public transit as well! And it's all about how our transit system needs to evolve and adapt. It's easy to be pessimistic, but if we can do a better job of making our voices heard, I think we can make real change happen. It might take a while, though.

[@homesinternational8015]

@@eryngo.urbanism yes, i had seen this video prior to the cars suck one. (sorry, suck* :) ). But there's a very big problem, as Not Just Bikes had explained, we europeans think americans drive because they're fat and lazy, but the causality is actually the other way round. However, americans have evolved into this car-dependent world, so has their infrastructure, and now it's going to be extremely difficult to make the american people change : - Fat&lazy, so difficult to make them walk and take transit - Being a pedestrian in america is like 10 times as deadly as in europe... who wants to perform such a dangerous activity if they could just as well sit in a huge SUV ? - Not only is there a lack of sidewalks, there's also a lack of shade. And we europeans totally underestimate the sun in america because we believe it's on the same latitude, but my city Brussels - which is very average in Europe - actually sits to the north of Montreal. Most of USA has the same sun as Morocco... walking 30 minutes with no shade is no easy thing, especially with giaant SUVs rushing around and trying to kill you :s - A lot of transit vehicles are kinda empty, and covid made it only worse. So, most officials will just say "if our buses are empty, why should we open new lines?". (there's a problem like this in Brussels too, they always wait for a line to become saturated during several years before expanding service - higher frequency, larger vehicles, new line). --> For all these reasons, i'm really pessimistic. Even here in Europe, many people are car-centric. A niece lives 2 miles outside of Brussels, very close to a bus stop. She has a car since 2 years, and she already says "i couldn't imagine living without a car". She lives at her parents, it's a 4-person family, and they have 4 cars. They hate public transport, they call it dirty, stinky, full of weirdos...

[@brucenadeau2172]

@@homesinternational8015 you forgot wacko closed many mental hospitals just let them roam the street harassassed people out walking traffic is not that dangerous if you follow traffic laws the place that do not have sidewalks are because most city make the lot own buy them

[@dtape]

In your response to the hypothetical commenter you left out how American cities were originally dense and walkable but were bulldozed for cars. Cities weren’t built for cars from the beginning. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6ncnHxpZcuGa5Ym26s

[@cjaquilino]

@2:47 I get his point. But I don't think this is the real reason we're not solving homelessness.

[@HUEHUEUHEPony]

gl fighting with people aged 70> saying NIMBY

[@safe-keeper1042]

At least they'll die of old age soon. I have a feeling the young generation will be more receptive to change and progress (fingers crossed).

[@thetrainguy1]

I believe my generation will fix what the previous generation destroyed

[@MrStark-up6fi]

Except for the car enthusiasts. They are too ignorant to do that

[@kasperfischer5987]

"To answer the first one" and then you answer the last one ;)

[@vincewhite5087]

I do think Speck’s book is too pessimistic. I like your attitude to start with what you have. Not every city has touristy or great historic districts. But we should still work on making it better, step by step. It may no get to a Rome, or Amsterdam, but there’s lots we can still do. I would like to see more work that addresses as you say the other 90%. If you can only work with trendy places, then the movement will fail, because it’s “elitist” . If we can get more plain neighborshoods repaired & going in the right way, this will help get people behind it. Has to get away from Trendy Yuppy badge, and take on a “it’s great for all”.

[@Ash-so2sr]

Good affordable public transportation and cities design for humans now! . China is way ahead on this, good bus and subway , and high speed trains and very walkable cities

[@wturner777]

Not to mention a booming economy that other countries like the US depend on.

[@julezsmith4548]

That part about Italy was VERY COOL, but Tlusa and Rome are two VERY different places. It's NOT COMPARABLE! Tslua was designed for CARS, and it will be a CAR CENTRIC CITY, Cghanang that would be a NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK!

[@DRL1320]

😂 You copied this in from the vid, right? Please tell me yes.

[@Dandikbobrek]

TLDW; cars dont suck, road designs suck

[@theuncalledfor]

You were in Italy? And you SURVIVED? I can clearly see cars in your video, so you must've gotten lucky. (I went to Italy on a school trips once, it was awful, never again will I set foot in that country.) Also, are you sure this is Italy? The cars look suspiciously intact. Last time I was there, all the cars looked like a vehicle that GTA player had just discarded.

[@eryngo.urbanism]

It was a great experience! I felt much safer walking around in Italy than I do most places in North America.

[@theuncalledfor]

@@eryngo.urbanism Well, luckily, I have never been to North America, so I am still alive today. To be fair to Italy, I would pick Italy over North America any day of the week. Pick the poison that only gives you diarrhea over the one that leaves you in pain for an entire month.

[@bano363]

7:42 witness American freedom in all its glory

[@kromson990]

im a car guy, i love cars but not "cars"(i hate seeing hundreds of boring normal cars in the city) i love big growling V8s, screaming I4s, honestly cars should be used only for racing purposes, on isolated from people and cities racetracks. i mean, if you're living in a town that is so small that only people living there know about its existence, you are going to need a car.

[@MrStark-up6fi]

Same

[@AlicedeTerre]

Sigh *subscribes to another white guy urbanist* But jokes aside, keep up the good work, we need more people based in the places that need improvement, not just the places that are good already.

[@chrisbarnes2823]

Why do people live in suburbs? It’s a North American problem that was created by people who wanted a certain lifestyle. I live in a rural middle of nowhere place and we love it, we mostly supply our own food, water and energy. There is no trying to better than your neighbors a few miles away.

[@handsfortoothpicks]

Car companies and zoning laws basically forced people into suburbs. Now people only know the suburbs and don't know that they could live anywhere else. It's a real shame

[@SwiftySanders]

I love this person!!!! 😂

[@TheSkyyIsAwesome]

You look like a young scotty kilmer at first sight. Lol

[@inesalag]

At least you wont't have haters telling you are bitter because you have no cars :)

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

See Soviet microdistrict

[@clydelaz]

Why would you use Rome as an example of a walkable city when you could have used New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston...... Your implication that the U.S. has no walkable cities is incorrect.

[@eryngo.urbanism]

To be fair, I just used Rome as an example because it's a place I have personal experience with. There are definitely great walkable cities in the US, and Rome is by no means perfect.

[@Mgameing123]

love the NJB ripoff channel! 🤣

[@DRL1320]

Troll go home. This is fantastic new content about a specifically US context. Well done, Kyler.

[@chrissy4957]

the ending is gold!! hhahha

[@Kristiansolis15]

Cars suck, that’s an automatic, strike three for cars

[@brucenadeau2172]

with so many busses more polution then any car

[@brucenadeau2172]

car do not suck

[@eryngo.urbanism]

Correct, but designing our cities so that they're mandatory does.

[@brucenadeau2172]

@@eryngo.urbanism the thing is the guy made this video is anti-car he want force us that use car live in city the car is most effective way to get around the city walking and biking limit a person to which business they can go to to get enough buses will need just as many road

[@janiyota6576]

no, cars are great, youre just too soft.

[@durece100]

You're being a loser if you think cars are great! How about everyday accidents? 😠