Just Buy Everyone a Car

[@danopticon]

Do these “Buy everyone a car?” sophists ever also offer to pay for all the gas, the maintenance, the licensing and permitting and sticker fees, the parking costs, and all the property damage and hospital bills accruing from accidents, arising from distributing all of these cars?

[@vanadium5099]

Exactly, cars are a damn black hole for money. Even if they got the car itself for free, the insurance, maintenance, and gas would ruin anyone who's already struggling.

[@Clyde-2055]

Do transits authorities pay all the medical bills, property lose and burial and funeral fees for all the people mugged, beaten and murdered while on or traveling to public transit ?

[@shiinakochiya6068]

@Clyde-2055 No, and they don't do so for people in parking lots and parking garages either. But you make an interesting point! Not only should the government provide transit services and medical services to all, they should also provide public funeral services and other forms of emergency compensation, and job protections to those who are out of work temporarily for these reasons. These sorts of incidents often involve high costs and/or long outages from work, which the poor can't easily afford - or force them to keep working through things they shouldn't have to, since they also can't afford not to. There are sure to be economic and mental health benefits to shifting these burdens away from individuals and families.

[@Neojhun]

@@Clyde-2055 That's insane you even assume such issues are even a major problem. The probability of that mishap should be very tiny in a functional transit system. Safety should be a feature of well used transit system, not a problem. That problem should not exist.

[@Neojhun]

@@Clyde-2055 Interesting, blank burner account created "Sep 10, 2023".

[@SuperRat420]

Love how busses are expected to be packed while I can count on one hand the amount of cars I see daily with more than one person in them

[@MegaLokopo]

I only need one finger to count how many people are in most cars.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

Agreed. We should defund these roadway systems. Clearly people don't want to use cars, given how empty they are.

[@MegaLokopo]

@@OntarioTrafficMan Anyways the roads aren't profitable and if we can only invest in public transit if it is profitable, then the same standard should apply to cars and roads.

[@norwegianblue2017]

Not only are the buses and trains empty, it takes so much longer to get anywhere on mass transit. I live in San Diego, which has one of the bigger light rail networks in the country, and I live less than a mile from a trolley stop. It say it would take me 90 minutes to go 13 miles to work via train and bus. Takes me 20-40 minutes by car, depending on traffic. Guess which one I take.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

@@norwegianblue2017 Yes, people generally take whichever mode has been made the most convenient by urban planning and transportation planning.

[@gabetalks9275]

I died inside when that woman said that traditional public transit options are becoming outdated. Automobile realism at its finest.

[@abrissimon914]

Right? Just becuase the US is so incredibly auto-centric and has terrible public transport doesn't mean that "well, looks like public transport is an outdated idea that doesn't work anymore". Yeah, no wonder it is so bad over there if it's under-funded and under-developed. Just take a look at any European city and then tell me public transport is outdated

[@FullLengthInterstates]

Traditional public transit is outdated, when 20mph e bikes can be bought for $1000. It would be extremely difficult to make bus service more efficient or convenient than biking, especially if you live in a "15 minute city" where everything is a 5 minute bike ride away.

[@AssBlasster]

@@FullLengthInterstates I dont want to worry about riding/parking an ebike for EVERY trip...Sometimes people just want to go out drinking or events outside of their neighborhood. Having reliable transit services gives you that freedom to choose between a walk, bike, or transit ride.

[@shieldgenerator7]

thats what you call "chronically car-brained"

[@GILLIGFAN]

What they don’t wanna consider or hear is that there absolutely is a caveat and asterisk to their claims.. Yes some traditional things about transit are outdated. Many of those things being fare policies ( lack of flexible payment options or easy to access pass & reload options ) Outdated or unrealistic schedules, service goals and priorities ( still stuck on the outdated core belief that only the old school 9-5 officer worker matters ) And my personal favorite for many transits which is funding doesn’t keep pace with inflation often and the gov assumes transits can run on the same budgets from 10, 20, 30, 40 plus years ago 😂🤣

[@klubstompers]

"it would be cheaper to just buy everyone a car" Funny how they never factor in the extra cost of road maintenance, extra cost to build more parking spaces, cost of adding more lanes, and every other aspect needed to add more cars to already over crowded roads and freeways. As well as the added cost to the person now with a car; vehicle maintenance, insurance, gas, parking, etc.

[@TheExileFox]

Don't forget to ask who is paying for vehicle maintenance and gas

[@TukozAki]

But micro transit helps real estate Cies build more where profit is higher! It also helps delay bike lanes as they can be presented as dangerous and useless.

[@HrHaakon]

It's not their fault, they're just not very good at economics.

[@johannessamuelsson6578]

yeah that's a great point. There always seems to be a "lack" [of] parking, especially now as cities redevelop parking lots into housing. I'm not against this, just to be clear.

[@clockworkvanhellsing372]

Road maintance is probably cheaper with everyone going by car. The damage to the road increases with the power of 4 to the axel weight. And a full bus is considerably hevyer then a car so it ends up damagen the road the same ammount as 50000 to 100000 cars.

[@alanthefisher]

Hearing the words "Micro-Transit" always triggers me into a fight response. Great video thats useful for a rebuttal against common talking points

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Suburb officials: Let's do microtransit- Alan in a Peter Griffin voice: *I just wanna talk to him*

[@alexwithclipboard]

Now we just need somebody to go tell Randal O'Toole that he can finally stop talking.

[@josephmassaua5486]

he's bonkers @@alexwithclipboard

[@signalwalid25trainz50]

Expect a video on you in a few weeks time about your "idea"

[@toastmakerr]

microtransit a big no, micromobility a big yes :)

[@richardhill194]

"This train cant drive right up to your house, but that wouldn't be a problem if you could walk here without dying." is probably the most succinct way of explaining how any discussion of transit is incomplete without talking about urban design/zoning

[@freesk8]

I agree. Greater degrees of force will be required.

[@laurie7689]

Suburbs are not urban. They aren't supposed to be. As a suburbanite, I don't want my suburb to ever become urban.

[@T1Oracle]

​@@laurie7689Americans often say "urban," as a coded way to express their racism towards black people.

[@laurie7689]

@@T1Oracle As somebody who has lived suburban all my life, except for a short period in my early years in Baltimore, my family were traditionally farmers (country folk). We have a bias against urbanites, but it isn't about race, it is literally about the stuck up, elitist, urban snobs who think that they know how everyone should live and who treat country folk like hicks.

[@qjtvaddict]

My electric scooter can

[@himbourbanist]

Man tech bros will go to wildly comedic lengths to just reinvent a bus that you don't need to sit next to other people in

[@martinueding1218]

Though they usually say “pick up other people”. So you end up sitting in a van with a driver you don't know and other people you don't know either. How is that fundamentally different from transit, I would ask.

[@TheModdedwarfare3]

​@@martinueding1218I've heard of cash cab but never cash bus. Maybe it would be easier to do a micro transit game show. That is a serious advantage we are not going to consider at all?

[@that_heretic]

@@martinueding1218 They get to skim money off the top of the system, and collect your travel data to sell to advertisers, government agencies, colleges, and whoever else wants it. Otherwise it's the same. Very common techbro grift.

[@eric2500]

And they have the unmitigated gall to "OKAY Boomer" people my age!

[@laurie7689]

I'd find that preferable. I don't like being around other people and avoid other people whenever I get the opportunity. I just don't like people in general.

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

I was an early tester in one of these 'give everyone a car!' programmes in southern California. It was an utter nightmare, First you had to be in poverty-low income to qualify, the grant was 5,000$- the catch was you had to get the dealerships to agree to the government program- which none of them wanted to do because apparently (unknown to us, who had to go to every dealership in the local counties) they had to pay a fee to get accepted to the program... Then, once we had gone through a year+ of getting accepted to the program (hours upon hours of speaking with government offices, providing papers and proof we were in poverty, had no good car, improved our credit score etc.) we spent another half a year getting various dealerships to hear us out(spending hundreds of dollars driving out to dealerships, spending the whole day negotiating and convincing them etc.) The car had to also be an EV, Hybrid or Plug-in hybrid... So finally after ALL that and searching for cars in our budget (Something incredibly difficult when the requirement is an EV or Hybrid and our budget was like 10K~) We... lost the grant because it expired before we could use it- with no ability to appeal for more time... very cool!

[@alexwithclipboard]

Was it the Clean Vehicle Assistance Program?

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

Yes, and it was horrible- one of the worst bureaucratic shitshows I've ever seen, it felt like they were just using us to get dealerships to sign up then kicked us to the curb right at the end of around 2~ years of trying to get the grant.

[@lowrads3653]

A car with a note on it also requires comprehensive car insurance. The money I pay just for liability would easily cover a daily bus pass.

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

@@lowrads3653 I mean taxes and gas alone (hell even charging an EV which is about 5$~ for 100~ miles of fast charging) cover a daily bus pass if you drive everyday.

[@robertlunderwood]

That's sounds exactly like Section 8 housing.

[@shingshongshamalama]

We should really start calling these schemes what they really are. "Buy the auto industry more customers."

[@ruslbicycle6006]

#CarsAreATrap #EndCarEra

[@LightCrasher]

@@ruslbicycle6006 Cars are needed, but I hate they pretend its the only way to get around. Its not, and it should not be.

[@laxfich_gecko]

nope, primary driver is the finance industry: more loans = more interest payments. and also the goverment smiles, because credit creation = money creation = game goes on a little longer

[@ATClouse]

If the busses are underutilized then the transit system needs fixed, cars are convenient but expensive and ableist

[@kelly2631]

As a student, I could either: A. Set a timer for 8:40 to catch the 8:45 bus every day on the way to campus, or B. Book a ride at 8:20 for a van to arrive sometime between 8:30 and 8:50 to take me to campus I think that I'd take the more reliable option.

[@truedarklander]

For my particular campus of my Faculty of my university there an hourly shuttle-bus connecting the two campi of the faculty, but in many times it isn't enough. It's nowhere as bad a problem as in America, but it's still very terrible service that's caused by even more terrible public transportation in the area the campus I have classes at has.

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

I thought these were video time stamps xDDD

[@averagejoey2000]

I live 5000 feet due east from my school, my first class is at 8am. there is a bus stop at the corner, and it's a 10 minute walk from my pad to the bus stop. there's a bus stop at the top of campus and it's a 30 minute walk from the bus stop to class. to drive to school, it's 15 minutes, 4 miles. to take the bus would take an hour and 21 minutes. it's only two busses, but there's a quarter mile walk and a 30 minute layover between the two.

[@Immortalcheese]

I live in a rare transit-friendly area of North America and, despite having a car, I choose transit because of how much more efficient it is than driving. I walk to my bus stop and never check the times. I know a bus will be there at most in 10 minutes (and that is if I see one leaving the stop when I get there). When I used to live in the suburbs, transit was so unreliable (every hour but sometimes can come 30-40 minutes late or even 30-40 minutes early) that I never took transit despite living next to the bus stop. Reliable and predictable transit works.

[@goury]

That's some reliable bus service you have there. In my place buses can be up to 15 minutes early down to 40 minutes late with a chance to not arrive at all. 90% of times they are trackable, but every tenth bus isn't tracked and you don't have a way to know that because the tracking service is just lying about its location.

[@weatheranddarkness]

The idea of everyone owning a car in a city is just geometrical madness. It can't fit. You'd need a 15 story basement to give everyone in a 30 story high rise apartment block a parking space, and that's assuming we're just saying one car per household.

[@AMacProOwner]

This channel has some of the greatest storytelling about transit. Truly quality before quantity!

[@JARV9701]

Americans and canadians will try every techno futuristic idea sold to them before doing public transport. Is like a brain disease.

[@Mr-pn2eh]

As an American I agree. I think governments do this on purpose in order to make it harder for Americans to move around.

[@clydedoris5002]

I dont deal with steet performers in my car

[@JARV9701]

@@clydedoris5002 yes you do, car drivers are their main target, and they are quite skillful at what they do.

[@fernthaisetthawatkul5569]

we ALL are living with this disease, & it seems the only cure is forced temporary relocation to civilization! (going on holiday to a city in europe or east asia)

[@gencreeper6476]

Vancouver did techno futuristic transit and it seems to be ok

[@AustinSersen]

Another benefit to big buses: bike racks. A few days ago, I was out riding my bike, and got a flat. Sure, I had a replacement tube and mini pump with me, but I could pay CA$3.60 for a one seat service from where I got a flat to a dropoff point a 20 minute walk away from home (would have been a 2+ hour walk from where I got the flat if I didn't have a spare tube and pump) where I could change out the tube much easier and quicker than on the side of the road. The bus service was running every 22 minutes at the time...pretty good for a very suburban route! If the government were to theoretically buy me a car, I'd still be S.O.L in this scenario. Cars are a huge burden logistically; buses aren't!

[@SuperRat420]

Literally never seen a bus in my entire life that could handle more than one bike. Oftentimes means I just bike the whole way

[@AustinSersen]

​@@SuperRat420 Almost all of the buses in Calgary have bike racks in the front for two bikes. I've seen lots of them in either BC or Seattle that have space for 3 bikes.

[@TysonIke]

@@SuperRat420most busses where I live in NJ can take at least 2 on the exterior. And keep in mind this is NJT who is one of the worst providers for bike users. But when a bus is like 30% full you can often easily take your bike inside

[@SuperRat420]

@@TysonIke well a friendly Wawa to you cause those are the exact busses I was thinking of. I always stress the bike situation.

[@SuperRat420]

@@TysonIke moved to West Philly which has excellent trolley coverage but no way to take your bike, and on weekdays the last one through the tunnel is around 11pm. Made me bike both ways most time rather than deal with the time table

[@zephaniahgreenwell8151]

Americans will do anything to avoid building trains.

[@ghalfsharp0]

Or even just sticking a piece of paper with the words "bus stop" to a utility pole

[@officialgreendalehumanbeing]

we tore down our streetcar systems and build highways through city neighborhoods because it became illegal to openly segregate

[@Trainfan1055Janathan]

As a bus driver, I scoff whenever people say "transit ridership is decreasing." These people have obviously never rode the buses I drive. During the morning rush, the bus is so packed, people are literally hanging out in my thinking space. I've had to tell people, "I need to fit everyone behind the yellow line" and "you can't stand there; I need to be able to see that mirror." The bus is so full at times, it makes it ride lower, causing it to hit the pavement at certain intersections. It gets so full that sometimes people have to get out to let others out, then get back on. I've had to tell people, "the bus is too full, I can't legally take anymore riders." Even during off-peak hours, this bus is usually half-full. Also, I roll my eyes into the back of my skull every time I hear "autonomous" or "pods." They're literally saying "car" without saying "car."

[@highway2heaven91]

This is one of those “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” situations. You rarely see solutions like these in transit havens such as Denmark, Switzerland or the Netherlands but because Americans drive cars and have next to no concept of what good transit is actually like the try to propose solutions from a car-centric point of view instead of consulting urbanists or transit advocates to create a solution from their point of view. Fixed route transit is fine, we just need more of it in the form of higher frequency, more subways, more LRT/BRT, etc. Not solutions proposed be people who may have never taken transit in their lives.

[@railotaku]

In the UK we have some demand response in Rural areas, with mixed results (some require booking the day before, others at least 30 mins before travel - guess which is generally more successful). The VIA style app based shuttles have popped up in a few places here as well in addition to normal transit and have generally done terribly.

[@Jo-Heike]

North American transit systems are arguably broke in many places, at least from what I can see. Although, buying everyone a car is not the solution. That, and that you can't walk anywhere without serious risk of bodily harm due to poor road/urban planning.

[@carmenl163]

We have on-demand response transport for old and/or invalid people in the Netherlands. Both my mom and my aunt use it. When it works, and you don't mind spending some extra time because they won't take the most optimal route for you, then it's okay. But they both have been waiting for hours because of a shortage of drivers. They also both have experienced being 2 streets away from their house, but the driver wouldn't or couldn't adjust his schedule, so they had to wait to get another person home first and then drive back to their house. Also, there is an entirely different atmosphere in those minivans. People are always talking to each other, contrary to regular public transport where everyone minds his own business. This is incredibly stressful for my aunt.

[@yaush_]

It is not because Americans “don’t know what good transit is” just go to any city in the northeast. It’s just that these companies offer one stop solutions for an entire transit network and Americans are obsessed with anything technology novel. And it’s even to do with the fact that a vast majority of Americans actually can afford to drive so people narcissistically think that the only people who don’t want to must be poor. In any country in Europe except for Switzerland, Norway, Monaco etc a majority of the population can simply not afford to drive everywhere so the public can’t develop this skewed perception.

[@Cousinduck01]

That’s the problem, if too many people buy cars then it will become a worldwide traffic. It will also affect the environment because more cars mean more traffic, and more traffic means more areas being torn down for highways. That’s why we have public transportation… But transit in the US needs to improve better on transportation…

[@highway2heaven91]

That’s true. The solution isn’t that people need to get cars, it’s that cities need to get serious about how to solve their transportation issues.

[@Mgameing123]

@@highway2heaven91 The problem is cars!

[@highway2heaven91]

@@Mgameing123 Fixed and edited 👍

[@michah321]

​@@Mgameing123people like their cars, they choose cars

[@vitordelima]

You just want to be hysterical, you have zero interest in any of the many solutions for this.

[@beattio]

I seriously am impressed with the amount of effort it must have taken to get to places in the middle of nowhere just to take a five second clip of it

[@alexwithclipboard]

And I did it entirely on transit!

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Now that is dedication! @@alexwithclipboard

[@beattio]

@@alexwithclipboard your dedication to your craft is outstanding!

[@GILLIGFAN]

@@alexwithclipboardshoutout to you

[@dermottbreault9189]

Yeah especially getting to state college - as a PSU student I can say that the buses and bike infrastructure near campus are very good but getting basically anywhere else, even nearby places like Boalsburg and Bellefonte, is extremely difficult without a car

[@mioszlupinski4652]

As an European currently living in France but from Poland which is one of the most car centric countries in EU and currently has the highest rate of cars to population I really don't this idea and what these ceos are talking about. All over the place ridership is increasing as it was never and ofc cost of living crisis is one of the reason. But the issue is not only money, huge problem are emissions from personal vehicles and vans are not a solution. this is why more cities are building tram or metro extensions and regions providing more frequent regional train service, especially point that you have wait for other bus is out of place where I almost never wait more 5min and even in smaller town where I work busses are mostly going every 25 min. So I really don't get how stupid must be people buying these ideas and investing in them

[@ianhomerpura8937]

I don't get why this is the case. Curious how the tram systems are working there, as well as PKP.

[@Erintii]

Polish expat living in Switzerland here. I hate growing car dependence. Having two cars per family in Warsaw for ppl who commute to office and back is stupid. Living in Switzerland car free in a small town made me aware how damaged transit is in Poland. Mentality is worse. Car is just a way to get from point A to B and not for everyone.

[@PiotrPavel]

@@ianhomerpura8937 PKP is expensive, I have many friends that are going full car and is much chezper than buying 4 or 5 tickets.

[@PiotrPavel]

@@Erintii They argument is "I take my child to school and then I go to the office". Not hust bikes had video and people to conference about public transport went by cars..... You cannot change mentality

[@Erintii]

@@PiotrPavel I am not sure it is impossible but hard. The idea that car dependence is a freedom was implemented by automotive industry. They simply wanted to sell as many cars as possible and public transit was obstacle to them. US cities used to have good public transit and country was build on railway network, all changed after WW2. Surely there are car enthusiasts who simply loved cars and driving them but many ppl drive as they had to or were told they need to grew up and get a car. Sure car can be great but is not always superior and public transit is more efficient to move larger group of ppl.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

It's a shame Jersey City thinks Via is a great partner, because otherwise Jersey City is an amazing place when it comes to North American cities making a ton of urbanist progress. Thanks to both the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and the PATH, so much development has popped up Downtown. Jersey City has been adding more people per square mile than more famous US cities through rapid housing growth with high-, mid-, and low-rise buildings. You can go from old rowhouses to mid-rise pop-ups with repurposed faces and Vancouver-esque high-rises. This is on top of pedestrianizing the area around Grove Street PATH and adding bike lanes. Via was brought in to solve a transit desert on Jersey City's West Side, but they don't need to do that when the 87 already does a good enough job of unifying The Heights with Journal Square and Greenville. Not to mention the route goes to Hoboken Terminal, which is a big hub for the HBLR, PATH, NJT rail, and NY Waterway. The 87 uses both Central Ave and Palisade Ave in The Heights, and besides the 87, the Heights has solid routes through important corridors like Central Ave with the 88 and 119, and Palisade Ave with the 84 to JSQ, 86 to Newport, and the 123 which goes all the way to the PABT from Christ Hospital! The West Side has the HBLR West Side Ave branch as well! So neither of them are true transit deserts!

[@FreeBurd0620]

Newton, MA is a good example of a Via system that has collapsed under its own weight. They just stopped letting most people ride it in September, and are paying just as much as they were before.

[@alexwithclipboard]

Whoa, I didn't realize NewMo had been paratransited already! I totally would have included that.

[@mbengambenga-xi6dp]

Via is inefficient, Uber has lower costs so use that?.. Ugly truth is even in Europe cars get 80% of workers to their jobs, statista com, so cars are preferred by all rich countries. It's annoying for anti car people to act like Europe is 80/20 the other way. My Finnish cousins drive while I walk cuz I force myself, most EU picks cars to get to work, so sorry cars have won in every rich place..... Google cars per 1000 adults and in France its 1:1, Jesus do people like cars ... My grandparents hated the train and cars just are nicer, us humans get bad habits fast, my great grandparents used horses and refused to walk .....

[@alexwithclipboard]

@@mbengambenga-xi6dp I am very much aware that in most european countries, more trips are completed in cars than on transit. I am not discouraged one bit. Think of it this way. If 70% of trips in a city are by car and 10% of trips are by transit, then you could make the transit twice as good by convincing just 1/7 of motorists to switch. What an incredible opportunity! History is not over and so many cities across the world have turned the tide against car dependence, while still allowing some in. There's no call for pessimism.

[@mbengambenga-xi6dp]

... I respect your thoughts. But, no, the EU numbers when 80% of French or Italians or Finns with jobs drive to work show cars have won and there is no real hope this will change . RICH PEOPLE PREFER CARS, EVEN IN EUROPE, DESPITE ATTEMPTS TO BUILD AND PUSH NONCAR USE ..... I don't like it, but it's a fact. I NonCar Life is about same numbers as Veganism in Europe adults.. and likely it's the same 20% single and young extreme leftists. I count myself as 1 of these and we aren't convincing the other 80% much.. Us humans mentally hate walking/waiting/rising via complex transit schedules vs. car, it's just a fact based on all countries data. Asking person not use car is SIMILAR TO ASKING PEOPLE TO BE VEGAN AND GIVE UP CELLPHONE, it may be better but despite pushes it ain't happening. So let's not deny failure after decades of effort with brainless hope.. I am not happy to say this. But all countries that are rich no govt has found way to get most to not use cars, no solution has been found........... if even in denser smaller Europe there is SO MUCH CAR usage then this shows wow do rich westerners prefer cars over transit and walking. Wow. It seems us people at a deep level of our mind are built to prefer zipping in a car. I myself walk hour to library and work sometimes BUT IM WEIRDO NOT LIKE AVG WESTERNER, and it takes mental effort to not feel pathetic walking... .. . Basically in EU despite what is claimed only the 20% of workers deep downtown in dense 5 story areas without lawns and parking (Paris or Amsterdam), like when they live and also work within 5km of downtown, will they choose not to use car. Importantly this is true even if countries THAT TRY TO PUSH TRANSIT AND HURT CAR USE so don't keep building roads and try to add a little transit, even these countries it seems the people prefer a slow congested car ride over a transit trip..... And this makes sense, humans prefer warm comfy cars, in a car is comfy and can drink coffee and listen to music and have DEEP CONVERSATIONS W FAMILY and have warm air, while walking/waiting/riding transit in February in Europe or Canada is less pleasant. .. .. . And despite pushes the % of car use is staying same. It seems we have more and more old people and these people especially prefer cars, not risking falls on icy sidewalks .. Statista com "'"' Most common modes of transportation for commuting in France 2023 Published by Umair Bashir , Nov 17, 2023 74 percent of French respondents answer our survey on "Most common modes of transportation for commuting" with "Own / household car". The survey was conducted in 2023, among 1,780 consumers""''

[@mbengambenga-xi6dp]

...I appreciate your thoughts.... But. You can't be intellectual and then focus on densest 20%, Paris or NY or Amsterdam, where basically impossible to own and use cars unless millionaire. If the 80% outside deep downtown areas in EU outside these spots for decades show deep preference for cars, then sorry this is a deep human instinct and EU and we have not found way to change this for 80% . . . It seems it's a deep human preference even in EU to feel bad or pathetic walking/waiting/ride some govt vehicle like a slave, while friends zip and are independent in own car. In Europe, like my Finnish cousins, despite all claims only the losers are seen as not having and using car. Just a fact which conversations and numbers support ..... I don't like it, but it's true. It's like "strict veganism", most don't and won't do it, and claiming No Europe Is Mostly Vegan WeVe Found Way MOST People Prefer Without Meat is a falsehood. Humans love cars and meat.... SIGH... AGE WISE the 50% of people over 40 people slip when walking a lot, truly, not sure we will ever get old to not ride car 5 miles to work but walk and take transit, in the half of West that has ice half the freaking year. Ice exists any place not within 10 miles of warming ocean.... The 20% of families with kids under 10 wow really prefer a car..... That leaves the single hipsters, so 20%, and half of them are too busy to waste a minute, and prudish single women, another 10%... Yes I'm stereotyping but these types do control most..... To say Europe or anyone has a "path to low car use" is just not true looking at the numbers. No place has!!! Human nature wants to zip and nothing has budged this, it's sad but true. PS. I have no car, and frankly only a mental revolution of training people to mentally slow and enjoy slow pace will change things, but EU and US arent changing. Doing vids whining is not gonna change shit . Go do a whiny vegan video too, it's about as helpful.. I mean this helpfully, intending to help us all fight to find truth not self-deluded hope based on ignoring facts... I would love a real solution!!

[@justaguy6216]

Giving everyone a car is genuinely the dumbest policy position I've heard. And our country spent billions on nuclear submarines.

[@ursulasmith6402]

No, nuclear weapons don't exist (MAG BITTER TRUTH).

[@heyno3306]

Aussie

[@JasminUwU]

at least nuclear submarines look cool af

[@justaguy6216]

@@JasminUwU True but highspeed rail looks cooler.

[@bishop51807]

We spend 200 billion on a nuclear waste storage facility made with wooden beams😅

[@Matty002]

thinking critically for beginners: step 1: ask why. Why do these people *need* cars? step 2: keep asking why until you get to the actual problem

[@MisterVercetti]

I live in a city with the worst of both worlds: its already shoddy transit system is being hacked and slashed like a horror movie victim due to post-pandemic ridership plunges, but there are no alternatives being proposed to replace what's been lost. The end result is a network slowly shrinking away into nothing, and a city government too complacent and indifferent to do anything about it.

[@trainsandmore2319]

What city?

[@TheHoveHeretic]

Signs in the UK (at least) are post-Covid ridership is bouncing back .... mostly. I'm always wary of short termism in areas which by their nature need long term thinking. It's normally an indicator of some dodgy bright ideas from some shady opportunists and we've certainly seen that in full measure during the pandemic.

[@truedarklander]

​@@TheHoveHeretichere in Lisbon, bus ridership hasn't recovered, but train and metro ridership is at record breaking numbers. There are a few reasons, but some of the might be that people are going out to the periphery making them ride more trains than Carris' buses.

[@vitordelima]

Then if anyone proposes a private ride sharing service for cars, minivans, vans or microbuses to replace this, you react as usual. They always existed all over the world by the way.

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

I think the alternative is people are bailing. Problem solved.

[@TereniaDelamay]

Bikes are just the best of all world for well built cities. Cheap, door to door transport, healthy, environmental, low space usage, relatively fast.

[@kiwenmanisuno]

"But, But, my lazy ass gets tired using a bike!!!"

[@gencreeper6476]

@@kiwenmanisuno Exactly though. Ive never seen the appeal over walking. If I have to go through all the hassle of being responsible for dragging a vehicle around with me it better be powered. E bikes and motorcycles make more sense. Id rather walk and not have anything to have to park or lock up or be stolen or potentially cause an accident.

[@MegaLokopo]

People should stop arguing that transit should only be implemented if it is profitable, cars aren't profitable. Maybe we should increase the gas tax until it pays for all of the expenses related to maintaining road systems, maybe then people will start to use and vote for public transportation.

[@sigmascrub]

Cars are insanely profitable... to the companies that build, fix, and fuel then. As well as those who construct and maintain the infrastructure needed for a car-centric society.

[@MegaLokopo]

@@sigmascrub Cars are very profitable to those who sell them, but the gas tax does not pay for roads, property tax does.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@MegaLokopo plus the federal gas tax has not been raised since 1993, and some states haven't for even longer than that.

[@kaymillerfromTX]

Are people making that argument? Thats wild. Thats like saying water treatment or sewage plants should make profit smh. People don’t think. Plus for the car centric people, less cars on the road is a win for drivers too.

[@MegaLokopo]

@@kaymillerfromTX Yep people frequently do. Yep, car centric people should be the biggest advocates for more public transit, because they don't have to deal with anyone being forced to drive getting in their way. Many politicians on both sides make that argument, and many people on the internet make that argument, they are convinced they won't be able to leave their house or do whatever they want, because transit doesn't always run 24/7. They don't realize that cars are the reason everything is so far away in the first place, and with less cars and less parking everything would be so much closer together.

[@stevens1041]

You seem like a young guy, and yet you're the only one I've heard that seems to get it on this issue. I've talked with many transit advocates, city and provincial/state workers, and so on, no one quite understands what is going on much. That's where I come in: I was a technician for a major mobility company. Its owned by a major car company, you can guess which one. They have been promising mayors and leaders that autonomous driving is coming, and on demand taxis using self driving technology will someday get us all around. Those promises are now over 10 years old, and transit in many of these cities is showing its age as a result. Guess what? The technology still isn't ready for prime time. The accounting of the major company I worked at? Lost half a billion dollars US per year plus (public figures, not revealing anything saucy here) for its parent. Its all a giant venture-capital trap that doesn't work now that interest rates are soaring. But us citizens and transit advocates will be left with transit systems in ruins. Even if their vision for the future did succeed, it will only be affordable to the upper middle class anyways--who can commute in a robot taxi to and from work 5 days per week?

[@alexwithclipboard]

Woah. Thanks for sharing the story.

[@FullLengthInterstates]

As autonomous cars continue to be delayed, pizza delivery bots take over the sidewalks. These are 2 converging technologies, and sidewalk delivery bots are racking up miles with much less risk/ cost to the operator. Eventually they will get good enough to go faster, maybe use bike lanes, carry people.

[@Dexter037S4]

How much did you want to punch the Muskrat in power?

[@Project2457official]

Let me add to this with my own anecdote: I’ve known friends and mutual friends who insanely Uber to work in the car centric hell I currently inhabit (South Florida). Imagine, spending upwards of $20 on your commute there effectively cutting requiring you to work 2 hours to recoup your investment. Shit situation, right? Don’t forget the commute back! Effectively 3 hours of work (about 1.5hrs per way) are needed to even have a net neutral gain.

[@mattcroft]

I'm pretty car-pilled, but Uber can go to hell.

[@StephenSmith-ge1qf]

And here in Europe as usual we are years ahead. Changing cities to keep cars out. Cheap and regular public transport. High speed railways. Cycle paths linking suburbs and villages. All very much better, I think, than cluttering everywhere with endless damn cars.

[@Clyde-2055]

You keep letting in all those illegals, and your transit systems won’t be as safe and efficient as they are now. Look at the violence over in the US which hampers the growth and desirability of public transit.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@Clyde-2055 they had to. Locals are having fewer and fewer children. They need cheap labor to maintain their standard of living I guess. Same case in the US. Were it not for constant immigration, the country would have fallen into demographic decline decades ago.

[@Clyde-2055]

@@ianhomerpura8937 - Regardless of the reason, the idyllic European lifestyle will change with the introduction of these culturally diverse immigrants.

[@KeVIn-pm7pu]

@@Clyde-2055 yes thats how culture works. It changes.

[@Ratcher.]

smoothest writing in the transit videos space. soon he will topple the big guys.

[@officialmcdeath]

Agreed, the quality is deep - 15 storeys deep \m/

[@MilesinTransit]

WE MISSED YOU KING 👑

[@MilesinTransit]

autonomous pods

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Don't let our Tribal King Jordan see this post

[@alexwithclipboard]

"This race is rigged for fixed routes to win and microtransit to lose!"

[@EdwardChan.999]

"Micro Transit" is just minibuses. In Hong Kong, they have fixed stops for boarding (usually start and end in different train stations/bus hubs, travelling through residential/ commercial areas), but passengers can request to stop anywhere along the route (on any streets, not on highways obviously), so there are more "stops" than buses for people to get off "on demand". We think of them like a shared-route taxi. Their smaller size also allows them to accelerate faster and turn corners without slowing down much. Although they carry less passengers (19 people max), this is more than enough for low-capacity bus routes since they can make more round trips, and the high frequency naturally attracts riders. The drivers are paid per trip so they are seldom late (although this causes over-speeding). They also serve as an important feeder (last-mile delivery of people) for double-decker buses, which travel on longer routes between towns.

[@stephenkeever6029]

Buy everyone a car... what an insane idea! Thanks for doing a video essay on this topic.

[@Clyde-2055]

Yeah, but if I had a subsidized Uber service, I’d never buy a bus pass again …

[@joerionis5902]

@@Clyde-2055 sure if its effective for you... If you're on a city though... goodluck with the traffic once it becomes mainstream.

[@Clyde-2055]

@@joerionis5902 - Where is the point at which a US city is considered big enough to really benefit from major expenditures for transit? The US is a nation of small towns. People from large cities preach transit, but small cities don’t need it, especially if there was a door-to-door service to benefit those that need it. I’ll wager an 80 year-old woman would prefer to catch an Uber at her home than walk to a bus stop and wait for a bus that may or may not be on time. And she would like it even more if she had some type of voucher to at least partially defray the cost. How many cities in the US are above a population of 250k? I think it’s like 75-80, so under two per state. Towns of that size don’t need NY-styled transit systems. That’s my opinion. Most of the year I live in a major Asian city with a population of 12M. For inner-city travel, use of public transport is generally preferred. The worst aspect of driving my personal car is parking. The fastest way to do short trips is on a motorcycle taxi. We spend a couple of months a year in a US small city, and the thing my wife likes most about it is going everywhere in our own car. The convenience is unrivaled by any form of public transit because parking is plentiful. What is a chore in the big city is a breeze in the small town. Frankly, when we get too old to drive, I do hope that self-driving cars have been perfected, because I can’t imagine taking the train when I’m 90 …

[@zerotwo_.002]

​@@Clyde-2055it's a terrible idea for people, cities, and the planet

[@Clyde-2055]

@@zerotwo_.002 - The planet doesn’t give a rat’s arse …

[@stevenroshni1228]

You can plan your life around an infrequent bus schedule. You can't plan based on transport you don't know how long it will take.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Hence why transit companies should have better and more frequent trips. Maybe not the 3-5 minute headways seen here in Asia, but 15 minutes might work.

[@meursaultroquentin]

I can attest to that. In my German small town the bus would usually come every hour during the workweek and it worked fantastically!

[@bluemountain4181]

But why would you want to plan your life around a bus schedule? I like rapid transit systems where you can just turn up and wait for 5 minutes for the bus/train to arrive but if the bus is only coming every 30 minutes or an hour then I prefer to drive even if it is more expensive

[@meursaultroquentin]

@@bluemountain4181 It becomes a habit, although I get your point.

[@johns.8220]

@@bluemountain4181 I plan my life around a 30-minute bus schedule because I hate car dependency with the heat of a thousand suns. I know I could get to work quicker by driving, but I will be super angry and stressed from the commute.

[@fszocelotl]

Just for reference, here in the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City, 70% of daily commutes are done with public transportation. Just think about having 3 times as much cars as there are in this lakebowl to cover that demand.

[@Clyde-2055]

Places like that are not what the proponents of alternative methods to transit are talking about. Many small towns have such a small demand for transit that there are cheaper ways to meet the demand than a fleet of buses.

[@Piterdeveirs333]

@@Clyde-2055 then why do all these proponents of alternative methods keep trying to to force their shit into large dense cities?

[@westvirginiaglutenfreepepp7006]

😮 Mexico City is not an example of urbanism I hear a lot about in English videos. I'd like to learn more

[@fszocelotl]

@@westvirginiaglutenfreepepp7006 Yes, we are a mess, we would need to implement and maintain the metro to an extension like the one at New York, and the Suburbano to an extension like GO, then we could just get enough trains to overcome our car traffic issues. Even with that the image I described at first would be hallucinating.

[@AWSMcube]

​@@westvirginiaglutenfreepepp7006CDMX is super interesting and challenging in terms of urban design because it was founded 700 years ago on a lake. Nowadays the lake is completely dry and the city occupies where the lake once was, resulting in issues with water/erosion and susceptibility to earthquakes. It's at a high altitude so there's less oxygen in the air, resulting in fuel not combusting properly and polluting the air; this effect is exasperated by the fact that it was built in the lake's bowl shape, causing smog to sink down into the city.

[@mattsmocs3281]

People forget that cars are not a 1 time cost. A car is far more expensive with gas, oil changes, repairs, *INSURANCE* and more. AARP did research stating that in most states we are talking almost 10k a year in cost. This is before we get to taxes for maintenance of roads which are a massive money loss.

[@NationX]

As a Jersey City native who took the 87 for most of my life I can say despite its flaws, which were...usually the people on board...that that bus route was very convenient and could take you throughout most of the city and nearby cities. Most importantly of all, there were plenty of them running in both directions. Anywhere it couldn't there were plenty of transfer points to a bus that could.

[@eric2500]

UBER and LYFT ruined traffic in my big city. It takes two and a half hours longer to get out of town than it used to -and the taxi drivers who were already in deep financial trouble, are doing even worse. *That's even BEFORE the pandemic choked our streets with Outdoor Eating Spaces and Delivery Everything.* Yes, my city is NYC.

[@seeitsayitdoggo]

I work sometimes in a UK town called Sevenoaks. The local bus company uses both timetabled routes AND viavan. My experience with demand response buses is: it's unpredictable. Sometimes I can get a bus within 2 mins as I step out of the railway station, other times it would be quicker to wait for the scheduled bus in 40 mins. The system is great when it works but if everyone leaves work at 5pm and wants a bus, you could be waiting over an hour for a van to return from the suburbs to get you.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Thank you for making this video, my city of Ottawa Canada has been starting a pilot project for “on-demand transit”, and my techno-bro warning lights were already going off. They’re claiming the same things from your examples: reduced operating costs, shorter wait and travel times, etc. Will be taking a closer look at it as it launches this fall

[@erickpalacios8904]

Well that's depressing. What's the name of the service?

[@CasualCommuter_]

@@erickpalacios8904 The transit agency is OC Transpo, their tech partner is Pantonium. It hasn’t launched yet, so waiting to see how they’ll try and spin it to riders

[@Clyde-2055]

As a senior, I’d prefer on-demand transit picking me up at home over having to walk 500-2k meters to a bus stop.

[@eechauch5522]

I don’t think it has to be a bad thing. On-demand transit is completely fine as a supplement service to an existing transit system, just not as a replacement. Taxis have been running door to door services alongside transit forever, just at a significantly higher pricepoint. Having a middle ground solution to serve journeys not well served by the current routes, but at a price point not just viable for business travelers and rich people is a good thing, if you want people to rely on the system. My city has been running an on demand service during certain times for around a year now, especially on weekends and nights where regular service is less frequent and some routes stop. It’s priced at the same price as a regular one way fare, but it’s not included in monthly passes or discount passes as far as I understand. I haven’t used it so far, because I am well enough served by the scheduled services to not have a regular need for this service. But it’s great to know I would have the option to use this, if I needed to do a badly served journey without paying like 20x the single fare for a taxi.

[@KeVIn-pm7pu]

​@@Clyde-2055thats called a taxi

[@boomoperator90]

Have these tech bros and public officials ever experience traffic??? More cars means more traffic, you gotta be kidding me!

[@bificommander7472]

If it weren't for the human cost, I would like to see a just-buy-everyone-car politician get his way, just to see how quickly that same politician starts cutting on the car buying once they got their wish of scrapping the transit. Cause let's face it, the ven diagram between politicians who oppose tax money going to public transit and those who oppose tax money going to welfare looks a lot like a single circle.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

As a paratransit user on Long Island, Suffolk County's accessible transit is a wonderful thing for me to have! Being able to go between anywhere in Suffolk for just FOUR bucks is an absolute steal. The positive outweighs the negative because of their coverage, are relatively on-time, and I typically use it for the LIRR. For urbanism, Suffolk has a long way to go, but they have a sizable paratransit fleet and I'm blessed for it. The ADA really is an incredible piece of legislation. Suffolk Transit has been experimenting with micro transit in the rural East End as well. This was launched in June 2021 with an on-demand zone created that serves Southampton as a solution for the 10A route that once served it (discontinued in 2016; low-ridership). Under the Reimagine Transit plan to change their bus network in Fall 2023, they added another on-demand zone in the Hamptons between East Hampton and Montauk to replace the 10C...an every THREE-hour bus! During the summer, it went to the lighthouse just four times a day, on top of the already limited schedule. So changing it to a more flexible thing benefits locals and tourists alike.

[@zeldadinosaur]

Why do I see you everywhere?

[@PASH3227]

Shuttle buses would be a GREAT alternative to park and ride, great point!

[@eric2500]

Then is works WAY better than in the City, where they give you a pickup window and they make you wait until they are 20 minutes late before you can ask for another pick up. If you are not outside and waiting when they come you are lucky if they phone you to say they will wait for five minutes while your elevator comes. You have to give yourself two extra hours as a cushion. Planes have nearly been missed, concerts and doc's appointments. *You folks out there on LONG ISLAND did not have enough public transit in the first place. Still don't.* Of course the paratransit is better there. But I have been to Montauk in summer ONCE - never again, thanks. Any other season. Busses or paratransit or private cars, there is just too much traffic.

[@eric2500]

They work almost the same way, so ???!!!. @@PASH3227

[@eric2500]

You see who everywhere?@@zeldadinosaur

[@famitory]

there's also the problem of riders who are either legally (minors) or mentally (anxiety, dissociation, severe adhd, ect) unable to drive but can take transit very easily. you'd need to expand paratrans a LOT to cover all of the second group and the first group would be essentially stranded until they hit the age where they can get a driver's liscence.

[@artirony410]

SEPTA's monthly pass being $115 is wild to me. I remember being in Taipei and their 30 day pass that allowed unlimited use of the MRT and buses cost the equivalent of $40

[@appa609]

Taiwanese currency is vastly undervalued.

[@Clyde-2055]

SEPTA? Is that one of those big tanks that folks in rural area bury in their back yard ??

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@appa609 mainly because it is an export-oriented economy.

[@Mgameing123]

SEPTA is a big agency. Its not limited to 1 city.

[@artirony410]

@@Mgameing123 yes, this is true, but the Taipei MRT has 7.86m daily ridership compared to SEPTA's 450k and serves an area with twice the population of the area SEPTA serves.

[@worra123]

And you havent even touched on the cost of building streets and other car Infrastructure like parking lots etc.

[@yukaira]

they complain about empty buses when the cars and street design (no bus priority) makes the buses shit!

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

Holy crap Alex, this video is a masterpiece. I can't imagine how much effort it was. I think a good application of microtransit is to free transit planners from the requirement of area coverage. Rather than having lots of loopy squiggly infrequent bus routes, there can be a smaller number of direct frequent routes, with the geographic gaps filled by microtransit. In practice very few people would actually fall in those gaps, so although the cost recovery of the on-demand transit is terrible, that is more than offset by the improved productivity of the scheduled bus routes. This strategy was part of Durham Region Transit's network reconfiguration, which has been so successful that the rural/suburban region has more ridership now than pre-pandemic. Some of the rural on-demand areas are popular enough that they are now being supplemented with new fixed-schedule rural bus routes.

[@Alejandro-vn2si]

Hopefully, we can continue to make sure this concept supports and encourages transit. I feel in suburbs and rural areas would actually work to connect the last mile destination that a train or a bus might not be able to connect well. Especially if it's connected to regional transit, it could have tremendous benefits.

[@georgekarnezis4311]

Yeah but isn’t Raleigh also going hard changing their zoning and land use to higher uses that support transit.

[@mikemotorbike4283]

oh that's rich! Effectively a loss leader to get people over their perceptual inertia regarding public transit- "try before you buy." That was the effect if not the intent, but very telling. This may be used strategically as a technique to jump start ridership. like "free beer!"

[@PASH3227]

AMEN! Houston's (yes Houston) bus realignment is another great example. It's one of the few systems that saw ridership going up pre-covid.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

@@PASH3227 Agreed. It was a bit of a shock when Houston Metro eliminated the local bus route I used to use, but the network is actually more convenient overall now since the routes are more direct (faster) and more frequent.

[@junirenjana]

This is incredibly well-made, probably one of the best urbanism- and transit-related videos I've seen in a while!

[@CharlesGorby]

As a Bucks resident, I think you summarized this issue really well! Love your dedication to quality content

[@iskerop]

Great video! I love the way you wrapped it up, most of our problems can be traced back to car oriented city planning, that needs to change

[@vitordelima]

Most problems come from annoying repetitive people pushing more harassment and waste of money and time.

[@appa609]

Give everyone a bike. Unironically.

[@Clyde-2055]

Put a motor on mine, thank you …

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@Clyde-2055 that would also work. Taiwan and Vietnam love their motorbikes.

[@Clyde-2055]

@@ianhomerpura8937 - I live in Asia, and yes, we love our motorcycles. But America wouldn’t tolerate them being driven/used as they are in most of Asia, especially SE Asia. Here, we ride between lanes, on sidewalks, on the wrong side of the road … etc., and it’s accepted as normal. In the US, it’s illegal, and wouldn’t be overlooked by law enforcement, and even if it were, many Americans would take offense at the motorcycle using its size and maneuverable to its own advantage. We also deliver everything from McDonald’s to propane tanks with motorcycles, and small bikes like Honda 125’s will haul a family of four easily! The fastest “transit” in our cities is a motorcycle taxi. With the outlandish tort laws in the US, this isn’t going to happen.

[@KeVIn-pm7pu]

@@Clyde-2055 Bikes with electric motors are quiet popular and very useful

[@WillowThomkin]

As a former urbanite who couldn’t drive to save their life, public transit was a lifeline for when I need to travel long distances. I can get work done when riding it, too. Now here in some suburban hellscape that feels a lot like something from the back rooms, I just walk wherever I need to go as public transit’s treated as welfare. Even if you’re qualified, you still have to pay for the service. It’s obvious expanding public transit would be the better way to tackle the problem because of the likes of me who easily panics when behind the wheel. It’s a well known death trap from looking at statistics describing how CAR CRASHES ARE FREQUENT AND LETHAL. Giving everyone a car, assuming you managed to get over the first hurdle, would be a catastrophe waiting to happen as this will raise in frequency and severity from everyone simply trying to get from point A to point B in massive metal caskets moving horrendously fast.

[@freesk8]

Government transit IS a form of welfare. It is heavily subsidized by taxpayers. And do you have a medical reason for not learning to drive? If not, you have intentionally weakened yourself. Made yourself dependent. Made yourself vulnerable. But you should be seeking to make yourself empowered, independent, and capable.

[@AWSMcube]

And my car is my lifeline when I need to travel long distances. It goes both ways

[@EastGermany-pc2lw]

@@AWSMcube just take a train wtf why would ever drive long distances? like you're more productive on a train than in a car

[@EastGermany-pc2lw]

@@freesk8 i can get my license next year. But honestly i don't want to use it. Ill probably get it and move back into a city where the metro systems are good. And nothing screams empowered independent and capable like walking to a metro station and patently waiting 2 minutes for a train to come. Also cars are dangerous and i don't have a deathwish

[@AWSMcube]

@@EastGermany-pc2lw My nearest train station is 30 minutes away, to the south. Even then, it keeps going south, to Boston, which would take an additional 30 minutes of driving. I have no way of taking the train north, to the mountains, and it's impractical to drive 30 minutes to a train station when that's half my trip. Might as well do it all in one go.* *though it would be nice if they extended the rail up to where I live, there have been proposals to extend it but bureaucracy go brr. A rail into the mountains would make no sense though because few people live there :p

[@vokzaal]

This is almost as stupid as saying "we don't need law enforcement, just give everyone a gun".

[@hectorquinones5579]

As someone who grew up in a place where you needed to own a car to go anywhere, the best feeling in the world is not having to own a car and just being able to walk or just take the metro.

[@fernthaisetthawatkul5569]

the sweet, sweet sound of freedom is the sound that my oyster card makes as i tap it on the yellow card reader thingy that guarantees that, by only paying a few bucks worth, i can get pretty much anywhere in central london w/out ever getting stuck in traffic!

[@APJTA]

When I lived in suburban Maryland (albeit near to a WMATA metro stop), I downloaded Via to see if it was cheaper and more useful than Uber and Lyft. Whatever personal values-based objections I had to Uber or Lyft were secondary to the fact that sometimes I had to go somewhere deep in the suburbs where one bus passed every 90 minutes. To my knowledge, Via wasn't subsidized in my county. I didn't end up using it once. If I needed to make an on-demand trip, Uber or Lyft was the better option. If I wasn't pressed for time or needing to transport something cumbersome, I'd get an Uber Share and just wait. For everything else, public transit was much better. Uber and Lyft are just cabs with an app (that lose a ton of investor money). Cabs and transit serve two different transport needs and coexisted without competing for most of the 20th century. If you try and blend both, you get something that's not as good as either. This is also why Uber's reported plan to replace public transit is completely futile.

[@Zenit_Bourg]

"Why do we even build power plants in the first place? Just let people buy their own microgrid be it diesel generators or battery solar." -- is how i hear this type of argument.

[@Terranallias18]

I mean, that would actually be kinda useful compared to micro transit. Especially if you live in Texas in the years blizzards still happen

[@mattderynioski1434]

The small city of 50,000 where I went to college had a solid fixed-route bus system that got most people wherever they had to go within city bounds. Students at the big school ride for free, those under 18 or disabled paid a reduced fare, and all other adults paid $1 per trip, with transfers. I used it to get to (ironically) an auto shop to pick up my car once on a weekend and there was still a fair amount of people on it. When covid came along, the city made bus service free for everybody and I think they’ve kept similar amounts of service since then. With so many students looking to get so many different places, it would be incredibly easy to warrant the switch to “dynamic schedules” and microtransit, but I haven’t seen anything of the sort when I go back.

[@David-TX59]

I lived in Arlington for 7 years. It is crazy that they have so many great entertainment options without trasit. The traffic and parking problems are the worst in DFW area.

[@haweater1555]

8:48. I'm watching this on a BlackBerry phone right now.

[@alexwithclipboard]

It's alright, I didn't get myself a smartphone until I was 18.

[@nuouokuyovksuoakrsv]

Curious on the inverse too, what if all the money we spent on cars was spent on public transit? How good would it be (or not?)

[@krunkle5136]

There'd be better service, and if we're talking about trains there'd be much less traffic. Additionally mixed use developments can be built around the stations to create a more walkable environment.

[@SocialDownclimber]

Just have a look at any city before widespread use of cars. It worked pretty well.

[@Sparticulous]

Everyone would be better off. Something unacceptable to the rich. Poor people must suffer for being poor

[@henrikleppa7632]

It could be pretty good. As an example, the channel: "Not Just Bikes" just released a video called "The German City with More Bikes than Cars".

[@megabuilder15]

Brilliant video mate! I remember being so confused about how to get around when I visited the US - I’ve always been used to at least some form of public transport, so when I asked where the shuttle bus from the airport to the city was I was laughed at and told to call an Uber. Subscribed! I hope you go far.

[@KingOfBattle25]

It never ceases to amaze me how america always comes with the worst ideas known to mankind and then call them revolutionary!

[@kylepatricklewis6345]

Car ownership isn’t freedom if an accident means not having a car

[@Bobmcjoepants]

This man made entire drawings on paper for a 15-20 second clip just to enhance his point Now thats dedication

[@mugabe2606]

As a European I can't gelp but think: the problem isn't just mobility. With dense urban planning, all people are in one spot, and everything sorts itself out. People travel short distances, and public transport is economical. Like in Manhattan. Poor people who can't afford a car shouldn't be living in a suburb.

[@RickySuper90]

Just plain good video essay Keep it up man!

[@johnsmart964]

We concur.

[@madameghostly]

This video didn't make me *quite* as violently angry towards local governments as your last video did, but still, great video! I always kinda knew micro-transit was kind of a crappy replacement for actual transit - thanks for giving us all the facts!

[@kaninma7237]

I immigrated from Texas to my ancestral homelands in the Czech Republic, and I love our extensive public transportation system. It is effective, efficient and inexpensive. Never again will I have or drive a car, and I love that! The USA could improve the lives of its citizens if it began building such an infrastructure.

[@logans3365]

But if we did that then corporations such as car and oil companies will lose profits 😭 we must think about our billionaires, they are so fragile, we need to keep giving them our money even if it makes all our lives suck Sarcasm

[@stekra3159]

In vienna, you can not park for more than an hour unless you live there ore you pay for your time bejond that. This rule has increased parking spot ability for by I kid you not like 2/3s. Because now all the commuters take the S Bahn.

[@petersmythe6462]

Keep in mind that cars are not the only cost of cars. Parking, roads, maintenance of those roads, protection of those cars, insurance, maintenance, etc. All of that costs money. It may be the government's money, but in order to legitimate its currency, a government needs to limit the currency supply through taxation. The price of car ownership is way beyond whatever monthly payment you have. The cost to society of car ownership is even higher.

[@petersmythe6462]

We can go further if we include things like the opportunity cost of road land use, loss of economic value from roadkill and habitat fragmentation of wild animals and livestock, injuries and deaths of people and pets due to cars, extended utility lines due to de-densification, loss of community from never interacting with neighbors, etc. There are so many costs to cars.

[@andir7374]

Obviously the content of the video was great, but I really appreciate the editing and writing of the video. There is such a natural flow to it and you never get bored and always stay interested. I instantly subscribed

[@awelshphoto]

Also consider if government starts buying large quantities of vehicles, the cost of the vehicles will go up due to lower supply.

[@almisami]

Anyone who complains about buses and scheduling has clearly never ever seen an efficient system like Singapore's.

[@thiccum2668]

Yes I agree

[@duncanisnthome8666]

Whoever said a car would fix poor people’s problems has probably never owned a car or been poor

[@galaxystar8232]

Coming from switzerland this really shocks me if i compare it to our extensive punlic transit system, busses are extremly important here especially to bring people to trains to bring them into the city

[@EastGermany-pc2lw]

please save us. There are people here that don't know what a trolley bus is.

[@johnson941]

I saw a clip from the opening of my city's Regional/Inside the city mainline railway form 1973 recently, where the major basically stated that the new rail line never was going to create any direct profit at all, but it could save a whole lot of money that would otherwise be spent on road maintenance, would make the roads safer to drive on, decrease congestion and the economic benefit for the city for connecting itself and the small towns around it would greatly outweight the construction and operation cost. And I think that is a key thing against cars.

[@MisterFro9]

This video is proof that sometimes the KZbin algorithm gets things right pushing videos, as I've never seen your channel before. Very well paced and cut video, super clear. Well done.

[@dal2452]

I became radicalized by urbanism after having to search for parking in the downtown of my city. We need more public transit options so that there will be more open street parking!

[@TransitAndTeslas]

I live in a city with buses (and trains) and Via service. The Via service is next to worthless with ridiculous wait times, etc, whereas the bus is way faster and more predictable. I prefer the bus over stupid via. I would rather just take my car than deal with Via.

[@tannermaerz8437]

Its really crazy because my hometown Asheboro is considering Microtransit as a shuttle between hotels, downtown, and the Zoo. Like, that's a fixed route.

[@CubeApril]

KZbin recommend this channel to me and after watching this video I think you have a very bright future ahead of you. :)

[@PASH3227]

Excellent video! I think micro-transit is GREAT for sparely populated rural areas and still important for the elderley and disabled. My grandpa is no longer able to drive and the city's dial-a-ride service is slow and unreliable. We end up calling ubers for him when he wants to go somewhere. The neighborhood is entirely large single family homes and lacks sidewalks on most streets. I'm not even sure where to start in terms of walkability and density.

[@michaellockhart6632]

I feel safer in a large bus. A shared van is invasive and I don't want to sit that close to strangers. I sometimes change my mind on which stop I'm getting off at. A shared ride would be a nightmare when I have to wait to pick someone up or drop someone off somewhere out of my way. Shared ride system could not be reliable to get me to my job on time with the same frequency as a bus. I don't want to catch people's viruses with less breathing room in a van. Creepy passengers are avoidable on a bus, but I might have to sit alone with them in a tight van which would be as uncomfortable as hell. I trust bus drivers and their driving. I don't trust anyone who is driving a car or van with me as a passenger. Buses can not be faked, but it is possible to get into the wrong van. I sometimes change my mind on boarding a crowded bus to wait for the next one. A shared ride called in advance is too much of a commitment. Sometimes I get to ride the bus for free and that would never happen with shared rides. I don't want a car because I hate to drive. The hidden costs of owning a car is unpredictable. I can't get pulled over riding on the bus. Everywhere I look I see nothing but cars, parked along every street and constantly on the roads. There's already way too many cars everywhere. Giving everyone a car is an astronomically bad idea! And I absolutely do not ever want to buy gas!! I wouldn't take a car if you gave me one for free, unless I'm immediately allowed to sell it cheap for some quick cash. I want my damn public transportation!! I don't want to call an Uber!! Stop with the allegedly new and improved ideas when they are just going to make everything turn to crap worse than it already is.

[@qoolerade]

This transit-Uber system is what happened in Idaho too this last year, but worse. The US government I believe gave the Idaho state government just shy of $50 million dollars specifically to develop local transit systems that didn't exist. What did they do? They didn't subsidize Uber, they DEVELOPED their OWN Uber-esque app for specific cities with 30,000+ people, then blamed citizens when it flopped (note: there was no advertising for this). They're now in the middle of a 3-5 years development project to add a third lane to the freeway.

[@stevenkent6649]

3 seconds after you said "the case for transit is air tight" an advetisement for the ford mach e came on. Brilliant!

[@johndefalque5061]

I'm autistic, even if I won a car, how could I afford, to insure, fuel, park,maintain? I might be able to afford a 50cc moped and that too would be challenging as a 55 yr old failure.

[@ECDT1089-EtheLamborghini]

Using MTA Maryland’s Neoplans in the thumbnail kinda hit me hard 😂😂

[@RishayanPorMexico]

I have a better idea...Ban Cars!!!

[@ChristopherMartin-e8r]

What really frustrated me when seeing NIMBY's block dense, Transit-Oriented housing is that most times the number one concern is fesrs over increasing traffic congestion. In reality people who live in these types of developments are MUCH less likely to own cars or drive nearly everywhere. Don't make assumptions based on things you know next to nothing about.

[@friedzombie4]

Hey Alex, you dropped this 👑

[@robertklose2140]

50,000 Americans die in car accidents every year, and we consider this to be an acceptable price to pay for the "convenience" of owning a car. Why would we want to increase the number of fatalities by stuffing ever more people into cars?

[@ScienAnimation]

ngl dude you look and sound like a younger city beautiful lol. Good video

[@lbcck2527]

In the city state I live in, residents here (rich or otherwise) are willing to put down $110,000 just to buy the right to own a car. That is not including the purchase cost of the car, taxes, fuel, parking and maintenance. This is despite we have one of arguably the best & low cost public transit system (not paid for by taxes) that reaches almost every corner of the city.

[@shealupkes]

if we just shackled poor people with paying for fuel and personalized vehicle maintenance, they wouldn't be poor!

[@travisfinucane]

10:46 dude went to the Elon Musk school of fake statistics.

[@carriebartkowiak]

For those areas that are "too rural, too unwalkable", one option to consider is having busbots pick people up and simply take them to/from the closest transit bus station. And simultaneously put in some damn sidewalks and protected bike lanes.

[@laurie7689]

Rural generally implies that there are miles of vacant land between buildings. Nobody is going to want to walk that. Also, as somebody that has lived rural and is currently in the suburbs, but still knows rural people, we don't like or trust robotic-technology as a general rule to risk getting on a busbot.

[@carlose4314]

How about instead of replacing buses with cars, we replace cars with buses?

[@anewagora]

I moved from Minneapolis to a town near Austin for a while and I was horrified. You can't tell the difference between the city and suburbs; when cars REALLY consume infrastructure, entire cities become giant horrific suburbs. It's crippling in lifestyle. People were trapped and isolated severely. Austin and the Twin Cities have almost the same population, but Austin is THREE TIMES the size. The roads were so huge they looked like football fields covering the land. It was disastrous, hostile, anti-human design that kept me in poverty with a very limited range of low end jobs, despite having a good work background. When I got a second job in the city, it was easier to sleep outside and be homeless than try biking home the 18 miles to do it again the next day. Even if I took the bus as far as it would go, I still had to bike 6 miles. Walking would be 2 hrs.

[@Jake-rs9nq]

As a North Carolinian, there are two very strong forces in our state trying to build transit in two incompatible directions. We have the traditional calls for a more integrated public transportation system, with the upcoming S-Line to connect Richmond and Raleigh, improvements to the ferry service, over a dozen proposals for new intercity rail lines, and the light rail system in Charlotte. But then there is a strong pull away from buses, with UNCC and NCSU (which have the most heavily trafficked bus routes) testing autonomous 'buses' that can hold half a dozen people, and Charlotte looking to replace some of its bus system with micro-transit 'solutions.' I talked to an offical heading a deparment of the NCDOT recently. It was ironic that she was concerned about ferry costs over ridership, but then focused on increases in microtransit ridership, rather than costs. There was also discussion of microtransit by air... which is even worse than hyperloop hype in my opinion.

[@natsume-hime2473]

Anything to support car dependent infrastructure in the US unfortunately.