Why Free Parking Is Bad For Everyone

[@AdamSomething]

Play Enlisted for FREE on PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5: playen.link/adamsomething Follow the link to download the game and get your exclusive bonus now. See you in battle!

[@mothermovementa]

Say hi

[@tobilenzen3565]

I will ENLIST in the WAR on cars to bring THUNDER upon the fossil oil industry!

[@user-op8fg3ny3j]

Salt the snail

[@EvocativeKitsune]

I live in Liege Belgium. It's a parking lot. Everyone has a company car, everyone drives.

[@ThePolistiren]

2:00 Um, private healthcare is superior to state-funded; the US provides better services than Canada or Europe, period; and yes a private insurance costs the same percentage of your salary as the state-mandated theft in Europe. So are private schools. And private public transport, like the tram I used in Tokyo Disney Resort, was way better than the crammed trains in Tokyo.

[@animanaut]

the bike stand in the shape of a car is a stroke of genius

[@mardiffv.8775]

Copenhagen is that bike stand. But the Netherlands has bikes all over the place.

[@animanaut]

@@mardiffv.8775 thx for the info. i just like on how many levels this can speak to many different kind of people. car owners see what they saw before, a car on their spot. bikers are finally welcomed to a parking spot. people walking by see how much better the space can be utilzed (1 car vs x bikes), ... . whoever came up with this design put a lot of thought into it

[@Zoulstorm]

Imagine tearing down 50% of your entire inner city just to build parking

[@kailahmann1823]

pictures of downtown Houston always remind me of Berlin 1945.

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Cities have not been built for cars… they’ve been bulldozed.

[@exploshaun]

We should bulldoze those parking lots and replace them with craters. It will cost the city less in the long run.

[@justanordinaryaccount9910]

Imagine reducing your road surface to build bike lanes nobody uses.

[@Eatmydbzballs]

You can just do what Detroit does. Turn all the vacant lots from destitute buildings into paid parking areas.

[@OlivierGabin]

In Switzeland, the only place where you can park a car for free is in a wrecked car dump... And if you don't want to pay a parking place, you have more than decent public transportation all over the country ! My street in Grenoble France, was clogged by cars parked all along when it was free to park here. The municipality finally decided to put park meters there with a bargain for residential users and, then, miraculously, the parking problem disappeared. Induced demand anyone ?

[@poncio2632]

That's not true, plenty of blue parking spots ("max 2-4-24h") and there's still quite a bit of free parkings in some places (side of the road types), and many places outside of cities have pretty bad bus lines, like 1 bus every hour and only up to 19:00-20:00. Also the price of public transport is ridicolous.

[@OlivierGabin]

@@poncio2632 Thanks for the precision, I did not know that.Anyway, it is a clever way to manage parking places.

[@roy_hks]

You might have decent public transit, but is it affordable? I’m from the rural Netherlands. The nearest decent city is Groningen, about 30km away. Public transit, two way, is €15 or more. Car parking is €8 an hour or more. Neither of these are viable options for the underprivileged if they were to commute to the city on a daily basis. Make either parking free, while not allowing for excessive parking spaces thus keeping occupancy high thus keeping non-essential car traffic away. Or make public transit affordable/free. Neither of these are the case over here. The rural part of Europe, or at least the Netherlands, can’t afford to travel.

[@poncio2632]

@@roy_hks In the canton where I live 20 minutes ride, 30km is 16.60fr. (1 to 1 in euros nowadays) just one way, but it's valid to go around in the zones for 4h. The price is determined in zones wich are made to maximize price between hubs. Going around in the city is usually 2.30fr. valid 1h.

[@roy_hks]

@@poncio2632 That’s expensive as well. Not the inner city one you mentioned, that’s reasonable. But that’s again affirming the point that rural Europeans are underprivileged. Over here a bus ticket, valid on all lines for one hour is about that price as well, maybe a euro more expensive, but again; only viable within the city. Not for commuter traffic coming from outside the city.

[@DAS_k1ishEe]

You got to see another upside of cities like Houston. Once the Kaiyus attack, there is plenty of space for giant Mechs to manuever without doing THAT much of colleteral damage.

[@herczy]

Why would the Kaiju attack Houston? There's nothing interesting there.

[@c.g.silver8782]

😂

[@ayokai6119]

@@herczy To punish its sole existence, duh!

[@gweltazlemartret6760]

And there will be even less buildings to bulldoze after each battle to enhance parking lots areas. It's a win-win.

[@Notmyname1593]

Now that I think about it. Cities in modern warfare act a bit like fortresses. But parking lots would provide little cover and if the people rise up the empire can easily crush them with tanks. Not even a joke, making streets wider for easier use of cannons is a centuries old technique.

[@andrefaquineti7444]

"For those who are privileged, equality is like oppression" that hit hard.

[@sturmman100]

Double edge. Same can say someone who does not live in the City and needs to drive with car to get into it...

[@andrefaquineti7444]

@@sturmman100 good point

[@faustinpippin9208]

now if you live outside the city you have to pay for bike lines and bike infrastructure for privleged city people, that hits hard... and now the peasants who livs outside the city have to sponsor the rich who live in the cities and you even deny them parking that comes from their taxes I know you will say "but hurrr durr they can just use public transport from their rural areas and waste extra 3 h of their day and spend the same amount of money"

[@chinmayghule8272]

@@faustinpippin9208 obviously public transportation would be much faster than a car. So if public transportation is costing 3 hrs of travel, it would obviously be longer for cars.

[@RonaldinhoGoat]

@@faustinpippin9208 Are you talking about the US? In Italy cities tend to be quite dense then they suddenly end next to a mountain or a forest. The outskirts have really good public transportation whilst simultaneously being cheaper.

[@RyanHare]

My parents live in a rich private condominium in Brazil. Inside this area, there are NO businesses, so no matter what you need to do, you have to drive... A few years ago, they allowed a small business to start selling bread in a small van and I it was unbelievable how popular it was! However... The whole thing didn't last more than a couple of months because most people insisted on DRIVING and parking their cars on the streets close to where the van was based, usually parking in front of people's drives and in empty lots, destroying the grass. This lead to the people that lived nearby getting pissed off and rightfully putting in complaints and in the end the whole thing was scrapped. Keep in mind that the condominium had a *PERIMETER* of about 3 KM, so no matter where you lived, it wouldn't be a walk longer than 5-10 minutes at the most (probably 2 mins on a bike). After that, my hatred for car-centric culture went through the roof and I still can't get over how insane people can behave sometimes...

[@alewis514]

3 km radius (which is 6 km diameter) isn't a 5-10 min walk. Especially in a car-centric hellhole where navigating this distance on foot isn't even close to 3 km. This may as well be 1 hour walk in a noisy, unsafe envirionment. Anything but pleasant.

[@mortenbecks2017]

@@alewis514 > rich private condominium in Brazil Possible language barrier (English is not my first language either), so it might be 3km in circumference, then the numbers would check out.

[@scollinge9958]

Once a place is car centric people will drive even if the distance is 200m

[@mardiffv.8775]

Walking is 4 kmh, so 1 km = 15 minuten. You are right about cycling: 1 km = 3,3 minutes of cycling.

[@RyanHare]

@@alewis514 apologies. I was supposed to write *perimeter*! Silly me. This was a rwsidential private condominium and is very safe and pleasant to walk.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

There’s not so much war on cars as much as war on pedestrians and cyclists.

[@michaelpointner7507]

At it's core, it's war against poor people.

[@malypavel25]

@@chrisb9143 Points, known as years in prison!

[@michanowak3001]

People should stay at home at this whole space will be free to transport politicansw ith don't need to care of enviroment.

[@justanordinaryaccount9910]

I haven't seen any town changing bike lanes into car lanes or activists advocating liquidation of bike parking spots. In other words, I think you are wrong.

[@saoirseislive]

​@@justanordinaryaccount9910Maybe you need to look around, it happens a lot

[@WolfHagenSdW]

That first story hits deep. My mom drove to her workplace in the village, while I usually walked to my workplace. Even after getting a license and a car. My Boss was kinda surprized, because that was not too common and asked me why. I could only answer, that it would be a waste of fuel, to drive a distance, that takes a 15 minute slow walk downhill.

[@mardiffv.8775]

I have seen a similar story. I had a job in Amsterdam, Westport industry park and a coworker walked 3 km = 45 minuten to work. He did not mind. Riding a bike would have 10-11 minutes, but his house had no bike storage space. So parking a bike on the street is a matter of time before it gets stolen.

[@JonMartinYXD]

@@mardiffv.8775 The walk is nice. I take the train into work in the morning, but frequently walk home*. The exercise is good for physical and mental health, and the gradually changing scenery as I traverse the distance at human speed creates a separation from work. Work is waaay back there on the other side of the river. * Weather permitting. -30 °C? Fine, just bundle up and walk fast to keep warm. 30 °C? No. Just, no.

[@thomgizziz]

So a walk uphill when you go back home. You are ignoring that fact because you have a bias and you are trying to paint your preferred story in the best light possible. Most people dont live 15 minutes away, which is probably why your boss was surprised not because you were walking but because he assumed you lived further away, yet another way you are trying to basically lie by construction.

[@thomgizziz]

@@mardiffv.8775 No, bad stuff doesn't happen here in Europe... right? We have a narrative to uphold here so we Europeans feel like we are better than everybody else and have to cry ourselves to sleep over jealously less often.

[@mardiffv.8775]

@@thomgizziz Me? Jealous at the USA? No, not at all. I love the fact that in the Netherlands I cycle everywhere in safety. Low crime rates compared to the USA. Yes, NL has a housing crisis, but so does the USA.

[@barryrobbins7694]

Based on land use, an alien from another planet would determine that cars are more important than people.

[@rapchee]

Ford Prefect agrees

[@av_oid]

@@rapcheecame here to reply this 👍

[@orkhepaj]

nobody should care what they think

[@barryrobbins7694]

@@orkhepaj What do *YOU* think about our strange land use choices?

[@orkhepaj]

@@barryrobbins7694 i would ban most of the cars , especially those who only have the driver in it and doesnt transport anything else

[@leafcooper7140]

Something I never understood about American parking is why I never see multi-story car parks. If you're absolutely determined to use this space for cars, why not at least stack a couple of layers up? Not only is the current method ruthlessly inefficient, it's inefficient *at it's own job*

[@yesec9]

We do have them, but mostly in city centers...the outskirts are almost all surface level though aside from the occasional parking garage at a major retail or office location

[@tylermech66]

No incentive to utilize space efficiently as commercial land use is heavily heavily encouraged.

[@RAHelllord]

They're more expensive to make and take longer to finish, plus are much harder to maintain as well. You don't need much in the way of fire safety codes and stuff for an asphalt island, but you will need that for a building that is meant to be used by people.

[@Demopans5990]

Garages also provide shade. Great for parking in the summer

[@grandsome1]

​@@chettmanly7451Americans be like, "we've got lots of lands, so let's waste the most valuable one on which we can grow food and deliver it fast. We'll only stop once we reach the desert!"

[@hngldr]

10:50 - I LOVE those bike racks. The number of times I've talked with coworkers about bike infrastructure and fallen back on "well would you rather those 6-12 bikes be 0-1 cars?!" and them said the number of bikes that could fit there is fake or avoid the point and go in circles is maddening. I love making it impossible to argue against or ignore for them

[@mardiffv.8775]

Those bike racks are in Copenhagen, if I remember correctly.

[@chrisko6439]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@AileTheAlien]

I want those bike racks in my city! 😆

[@jan-lukas]

Only problem is that you need to access the bike racks from the sidewalk side and can't do it from the street side

[@AileTheAlien]

@@jan-lukas 🤔I think that shouldn't be a problem, because this style of rack is meant to sway opinions in car-dominated cities. If you have that many cars, the street's probably not safe enough to take the time to unlock your bike from the street.

[@SdKfz-gq8bh]

that transition was god tier, gotta give you that

[@wookie2222]

Especially the transition to a "free game" only a few sentences after stating, that there is nothing free and that instead someone else paid for it. 😆

[@ShotzInTheLight]

​@wookie2222 well, tbf, that's still true with Enlisted. The game may be free, but it's fueled by micro-transactions

[@wookie2222]

@@ShotzInTheLight So, its the equivalent to using a car in a country where all the highways are toll roads?

[@ShotzInTheLight]

@@wookie2222 I guess that's a decent analogy, yes. Although, the difference is that tolls typically aren't optional, whereas you don't necessarily have to purchase the micro-transactions if you don't want to

[@wookie2222]

@@ShotzInTheLight You can also stick to dirt roads in real life instead of using high ways.

[@tristanjl]

Watching this whole holidaying in Tokyo - this city is an amazing example of having very little free parking. It's maybe the most populated city in the world, but walking around, it seems like traffic is never too busy. They haven't gone to crazy with traffic lanes either

[@brandonking1737]

Meanwhile, I'm watching this while stuck in a massive line of traffic longer than the eye can see. If we had a train we'd all be there by now

[@Amir-jn5mo]

i truly wish we had more asia centric urbanist channels. They do so many things right there and there is no excuse of "this is an old historic city centre" or whatever.

[@chivasroco1752]

People in Tokyo are busy working, they don't got the time to drive. Ah and we all know how comfortable the public transport system in Tokyo is during rush hour.

[@alewis514]

@@chivasroco1752 you mean slacking in the office (scrolling social media, grinding levels in Asian MMO's famous for griiiiindy gameplay) pretending to be working. Let's face it, humans cannot work fully focused for that many hours per week. It's just a stupid work culture that mandates ridiculous number of ass-hours spent in the office. But this doesn't translate into actual work being done.

[@chivasroco1752]

@@alewis514 you described pretty much every office job in existence, your point?

[@LynxChan]

The problem I see is that in European cities the focus is either on making things easier on cars or harder on cars WITHOUT creating reasonable public transportation alternatives. Parking is charged so that only the well off can park, but bus/trams are no more frequent, no bigger, no better, making life harder especially for those who live in the outer area of cities who end up going to isolated shopping malls because they can drive there and the city centre is practically impossible to get to from where they live without 3 buses and 1.5 hours.

[@davidty2006]

Thats for sure an issue here in britain because tories are in government. Heck currently they are making transit so bad that entire towns and villages are actively or already lost their vital bus service to other towns.

[@LynxChan]

@@davidty2006 I'm the furthest thing from a Tory defender, but sadly this issue isn't limited to Tories. Where I live in Scotland the Tories have almost no council control, but the public transit is shocking and the "pedestrian friendly" solutions seem to be limited to reducing parking in the city centre and increasing the price, without actually improving accessibility. It's like people think that if something is hostile to cars it must inherently make things better for pedestrian and that's just not always automatically the case. But raising parking fees and painting lines is easy, while adding bus/metro/tram infrastructure is hard, so they do the easy bit and don't bother with the hard bit.

[@jan-lukas]

Imagine not having park and ride spaces

[@vm360fly]

Conservatives: I don't want my taxes to pay for a bunch of freeloaders! People: Ok, then we can't have you leave your hunk of metal on wheels everywhere for free. Conservatives: furiously typing

[@walther2492]

🤣👍

[@jonttopia]

Or even driving on roads that aren't toll roads

[@justanordinaryaccount9910]

Cars are used by working people who contribute to the economy, while public transport is used by hobos and other substance abusers.

[@soundscape26]

"hunk of metal on wheels" - A very useful hunk of metal on wheels if I ever saw one. 😄

[@1queijocas]

@@chettmanly7451because the US government mandates them to have parking. It would be better to use that wasted space to expand the store for example as long as the city provides good public transport

[@Groxcima]

Thanks Adam, I'll make sure to make my parking lots expensive once Cities Skylines 2 releases

[@schwarzwolfram7925]

@@aturchomicz821 There are some people who are disabled where public transit hasn't been able to accommodate them _yet_ and they rely on a family member to chauffeur them. It is extremely rare, but there are some who need it. However, making parking too accessible will make them compete with people who aren't disabled and that makes it difficult for them.

[@joemorgan6738]

@@aturchomicz821you need to reach a certain size of city to unlock public transport, unfortunately

[@locsoluv94]

​@@schwarzwolfram7925I've observed that good public transportation is even more accessible to disabled people than cars. And nobody is trying to completely get rid of cars anyway. We're trying to get rid of car dependency. Fewer personal vehicles on the road makes life easier for those who *need* to travel by car. Less car congestion. Walkable neighborhoods. Sidewalks that are well maintained. Less noise pollution. These are just a few things that benefit disabled people immensely.

[@Gigachad-mc5qz]

​@@schwarzwolfram7925new busses and trains are very accomodating

[@2727daqwid]

@@joemorgan6738 There will be mods for that 100% as there were for C:S1 - Although I have to say that it looks like they didn't address the issue of every building needing to be connected to a road, so that sucks.

[@malypavel25]

In my local city during the last elections I kept seeing so many political advertisements about building more parking houses. It’s just sad. I live 30km away from that city and take the bus 80% of the time so I know it’s possible and actually more fun than being stuck in traffic.

[@Litany_of_Fury]

Rather be stuck in traffic than be on a bus like a pleb

[@Dexterlissimo]

So your bus does not get stuck in traffic jams? How? Extra Bus lines?

[@wta1518]

@@Dexterlissimo Yes, but also you're not the one driving the bus, so you can be productive while stuck in traffic.

[@momobeb7361]

​@@Dexterlissimoonly 2 specific bus lines (toi come and go) and the road is less jamed, for car and for the bus

[@Dexterlissimo]

@@wta1518 Sure, but Adam and also 'NotjustBikes' and 'CityBeautiful' startet that if your bus get stuck in traffic jams, the demand is extremely low (and, you cannot be productive when the Bus is also overcrowded, what they usually are, when their time-schedule is interrupted)

[@marxmeesterlijk]

I live in a small-ish european city. I'm 40 now, still don't have a drivers license. I can get anywhere fast and easy with bike and public transport. Although privatization has made public transport less and less accessible due to pricing.

[@Litany_of_Fury]

Sheep

[@alphatoomega7949]

​@@Litany_of_Furyretard

[@mythologue]

I walk pretty much everywhere. I've rarely needed to even use public transport. A more expansive network of pedestrian routes (and cycle tracks) would be fantastic.

[@justanordinaryaccount9910]

What is happening with our society that not having a basic skill is now something to brag about. What's next, being proud that you can't lace your shoes?

[@soundscape26]

@@justanordinaryaccount9910 Or swim. 😄

[@mrtnsnp]

"People are inherently lazy" → you describe very well why I never got my driving license.

[@kiefershanks4172]

The push to adopt battery electric cars will only make the land use problem even worse too as there will be massive demand for public charging infrastructure which requires a lot of space... If you really stop to think about it, it sounds absolutely nuts when public transit solutions exist that are highly effective and much cheaper overall.

[@Subjagator]

But people NEED their freedom. They can't be expected to _walk_ all the way to the bus stop, to _wait_ for the bus to show up, to get on the bus with all those _poor_ people etc.. They want to get from A to B as quickly and directly as possible and if there is anything that makes is slower or more troublesome for them then it just isn't good enough.

[@SigridWhelan]

Ireland is crazy about EVs and it makes me want to rip hair off my head. I don't WANT to have a car, any car. Cars are expensive, break down a lot, and deadly car crashes are wayyy too common. But if I ever want to escape paying insane rent for a studio in the city, I will have to get a car, because the public transport only serves few biggest commuter towns and it takes 2.5h one way just to get to work from 20km away... We need a) legislation forcing companies to allow remote working, so that people are not chained to the cities purely because micromanagers love forcing employees into offices and b) public transport that does show up, runs more than twice an hour and doesn't cost 80 quid to go from Cork to Dublin... But also, we need to go back to publicly flogging some people I think, because the absolutely horrendous behaviours common on public transport make me wish I could just teleport.

[@karlkoehler341]

I'd say, most people charge their cars at home, where they are parked overnight anyway, most of the time. That's a plus for electric cars and a minus for hydrogen cars. Filling stations are massive polluters and a waste of space. I'd think electric cars are a net plus.

[@SigridWhelan]

@@karlkoehler341 What about people living in flats, should they just stretch the charger from let's say 8th floor to their car parked on the street? Most people in the cities nowadays live in shared houses, often old ones, imagine the strain on the electrical wiring if i.e. 4 people charge cars via the same house? Also, a) batteries are expensive, require difficult to mine minerals, have relatively short lifespan, don't function well in low / high temperatures and recycling them is a horror story and b) EVs are only green if the electricity put into them is green too, not obtained i.e. from burning coal...

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

@@Subjagator "But people NEED their freedom." Exactly. So then PEDESTRIANS and CYCLISTS are FREE TO USE THE SAME ROADS THAT CARS ALREADY USE, and NO BIG GOVERNMENT i.e. cops will stop us. Right?

[@kailahmann1823]

Here the city checked before redesigning a rather large street near the city center, how many of the cars are actually owned by residents. That street had a average of 65 cars with a peak of well over 100. Of those NINETEEN were owned by residents. And this is the number of parking spots the city has left - and instead added a giant bike lane, lots of bike racks and an additional bus stop. All the other cars? Just disappeared - and with them a lot of traffic searching for a spot. Now the entire neighborhood and several other places want a similar solution.

[@brokenrecord3095]

Back when I used to need a car for commuting, I lived in the closest old-time neighborhood right outside of the downtown area, small old houses usually without garages (the neighborhood predated widespread auto ownership). There used to be a huge problem with downtown workers & visitors parking in our streets & walking downtown, denying the spaces to locals and clogging up our pretty little streets. The city actually fixed that by issuing permits to people who actually lived there and prohibiting parking for everyone else - boy there was an uproar from people who felt entitled to "free" parking right outside my building!

[@faustinpippin9208]

so the 81 people who parked there did that for fun? Or did you make someones live more difficult and still forced them to pay taxes for bikes lines and bike racks? you people....ugh.... you think that you are so forward thinking and great, because now you forced people to park further away from their work or forced them to pay for parking, and made them more poor meanwhile their taxes stay the same no matter if they get free parking or not

[@brokenrecord3095]

@@faustinpippin9208 well we all pay taxes for roads whether or not we park on them. The tax support for bike lanes is just a rounding error in transportation funding. If your beef is with paying taxes that get used for things you don't personally value, brother, bike lanes is small potatoes. Take it up with (fill in the blank). Those guys are the ones who are REALLY wasting tax dollars. Does it make those 81 parkers lives more difficult? Who knows. Perhaps they are parking somewhere else. Perhaps the perceived lack of "free" parking made them choose a different mode of transportation. I can tell you as one of "you people" that it makes life measurably better to not have your street jammed up with the cars of people who don't live there and aren't doing business there. Possibly you live in a place with assigned parking or proprietory garages. Presumably you value the fact that when you come home at night you will have a place to park. On my street, we didn't have garages because that wasn't a thing then. And we weren't assured of parking until the city banned it for non-permit holders. Do you think that is an unreasonable burden on the people who wanted to evade the $5 parking fee at the museum 3 blocks away? Should cities prioritize the demonstrable benefit to citizen A, or prioritize the hypothetical convenience of resident B?

[@WinderTP]

@@faustinpippin9208 you sound like you didn't even watch the opening of the video. Demand can be induced - and with the induction factor gone, the people will find other previously overlooked transportation options more useful than being fused with their cars.

[@faustinpippin9208]

@@WinderTP yes you forced more people to use something they dont like, really a reason to be proud of yourself.... Im sure the bike rack and bike line that some priviliged minority can use is a better choice then parking for working people paid by their taxes.

[@tyemccatty763]

I would say my main issue with focusing on just making parking in all city limits cost a ton of money is that most areas in America are completey transit free. I live in the outer limits of Boston and I quite literally don’t have any transit options in a 15-20 minute walking distance. The lack of transit makes it almost impossible to travel around the city without the use of cars. I think the issue that we need to tackle first and foremost is expanding the tranist system to allow for ppl in diffrent areas to travel into a city center car free.

[@IRespectPommy]

yeah I think there's not always enough thought given to poor and working class car owners stuck on the outer limits of cities, usually living with parents because rent is so high. obviously the end goal of affordable walkable city is great but the midpoint is what concerns me, people not living in the city essentially not being able to hang out here unless theyre middle or upper class leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. I don't think it'd be very popular for working class or poor people to not have their friends and relatives be able to visit them if they have to drive and would lead to significant backlash. Transit and rent need to be fixed up before parking is reduced.

[@LynxChan]

Yeah, the two measures need to be linked. I see a lot of celebration about how parking becomes so much easier when you make it more expensive without considering WHICH cars you've gotten rid of; those of the working poor, who live in outskirts with the worst transport links.

[@IRespectPommy]

I can't afford my car either, buses help but depending on where someone is what would be a 30-40 min car ride turns into a 1:30 to 2 hour busride which limits people coming in. driving and maintaining a car sucks and is a huge pain I'm in the exact same position actually it's just I can see center right to center left governments taking awhile to get the affordable housing and expanded bus routes and transit down, but being real quick on the increased parking fees.

[@examplify4248]

Same case here in Vietnam. The government seems to be unable to understand that giving sidewalk or even part of the road to car parking would only encourage more people to buy car, and then they keep saying it's a hard problem to solve because more cars are being bought.

[@sambamstewart]

"If we could, we would drive to the toilet" 😂😂😂 that killed me

[@brokenrecord3095]

that's why I installed a commode in my SUV. Now I can multitask when stuck in traffic.

[@adafrost6276]

Also, one more step is necessary: make public transportation free or at least cheaper. Here in my metro area, it costs way less to just drive than it does to take the subpar bus/rail system. So even if they charged for parking, that would just be annoying since there would be no cost effective way to get anywhere. I've had times trying to make it to the next paycheck where having $5 of gas gets me through the rest of the week but that wouldn't even cover a single day of public transit.

[@simonneep8413]

Did you not watch the video? How do you make public transport free exactly? Somebody will be paying for it... Likely somebody that won't actually be using it but hey it works for parking so why not for public transport - so free parking and free public transport paid by everybody!

[@adafrost6276]

@@simonneep8413 The major difference there is that anyone can use public transportation, it's a public service that's already subsidized it just needs to go all the way instead of catering to cars. Vehicle ownership is a luxury that shouldn't be essential to living a normal life; charge for parking and use the funds to further subsidize public transportation.

[@tmallison1753]

My one snafu with this video is how the first step is charging for parking inside cities, even before implementation of alternatives. It’s mentioned earlier in this video that in car-centric communities car ownership is one of the main factors keeping people from escaping poverty; making parking more expensive without providing alternatives only exacerbates this issue. Very minor complaint, very good video otherwise 👍

[@jabberw0k812]

Also, streetside parking can be a nightmare if you're visiting a town you don't know - which is the main time I'm likely to be driving somewhere. I'd much rather have a paid garage I can find on a map beforehand, then walk to my destination, instead of driving around for 10+ minutes on unfamiliar streets looking for an empty spot.

[@filkos1]

2:10 I love that there is Cityies Skylines soundtrack plaing in the background

[@jamesmoist1184]

Ive recently visited Sydney, Australia and it was great. Coming from Christchurch, New Zealand where the city is a boring grey hellscape full of parking lots and highways with shitty busses as the only public transport. Sydney is amazing, extensive public transport (albeit expensive) and mixed use zones with the downtown being almost completely carfree compared to Christchurch where you can hear cars and horns constantly when getting something to eat compared to town hall square sydney with amazing old shopping centers with cafes, greenery, and a chinatown right down the road next to historic buildings, apartments, hotels, and office blocks with the tram system running right through it where you can get to the suburbs townhouses or the harbor in 5-15 minutes without hassle!

[@AgentAC1998]

The sad thing is that Sydney and Melbourne are very car centric. The Public transport is great if you are going into the city and city landmarks, but it starts to become car reliant when you start leaving the center of the city. For example Melbourne used to have train networks that connected each of the train lines we have at present, but it's been removed and now you either have to rely on a bus, going into the city to hop on a train to the line you want, or using a car which is often faster (despite the heavy traffic)

[@av_oid]

As a visitor Sydney public transport is good, as you will be in a hotel somewhere close to where you want to see. As a middle class person working and living in Greater Sydney it’s a drudge as it is such a sprawling metro area. Long commute times whether it’s a car or on public transport.

[@jamesmoist1184]

@@AgentAC1998 even then compared to new zealand its a god send

[@scollinge9958]

@@AgentAC1998 I completely relate to this. I was born and grew up in Melbourne but left to live in Europe because the car centric intensity was too depressing. 12 years of not owning a car in Europe now and life is loads better 😊

[@koharumi1]

Lol going to the city is best via public transport. Everywhere else not so much

[@fivestringslinger]

I live in a city with a pretty nice downtown area once you're in it, but it absolutely sucks to drive around and find somewhere to park so I rarely if ever end up visiting. The only option here for public transit is a terrible bus system that takes forever to get anywhere. The stops are just signs by the road and don't even have a basic shelter for riders to wait in. Which baffles me as the weather here has extremes of heat and cold depending on the season, and is frequently quite windy. I enjoy cars, and driving, but I'd love to have an option to get around that didn't require bringing along two tons of plastic and steel when it's unnecessary.

[@ponteirodorato]

where do you live? this sounds awfully like my city

[@fivestringslinger]

@@ponteirodorato Lincoln Nebraska. But I'm sure this city isn't the only one.

[@ponteirodorato]

@@fivestringslinger Yeah, unfortunately. I'm from Guarulhos, São Paulo (Brazil). Your description matches a bit, especially the poor bus system. Sure, now it's much better than it used to be, but many stops don't have shelter or benches, just a bus sign (when there's a bus sign), and this goes for both municipal and intermunicipal systems. Guarulhos is kinda abandoned when it comes for the local residents. It looks like our government cares only about the Airport (GRU) and the International Shopping Mall. There's a train line, which serves only the airport and connects directly to the state's capital (São Paulo), so for locals, there's no use in the daily life, only for who's arriving in the airport and wants to get out of the city as soon as possible. But even though I'm complaining, Guarulhos is probably the most sustainable and clean city that is not a state capital. There are some plans of bringing a LRT and two metro lines in the future, I just hope these don't get cancelled in the next municipal elections (which are worryingly happening next year).

[@samkisiel9326]

I lived in Houston, so I got to see first-hand how car-centric the environment was. My neighborhood was in suburbia, I had 0 public transport options, and biking became inadequate for the distances I needed to travel to get where I needed. I’m hoping that eventually city politicians and lobbyists will see what is going on and listen to people on these subjects and hopefully change the situation.

[@POSTELVIS]

4:23 "because?" I've been wondering this too, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we're taught in the US that "Freedom" is the ultimate goal to strive for, it's in our constitution, it's plastered everywhere in the patriotic spirit, and if you were to ask someone in America what word sums up America, most likely you'd probably get the word "Freedom" The problem is that we either have a false freedom or that our definition of freedom has been skewed by those with power and capital. in this regard, things like free parking get prioritized because, on the surface; it feels like a "Free" thing to do. Yet behind every "free" thing is an Ideology in disguise.

[@jakobc.2558]

My deepest sympathys for you having to work with Hilary Clinton, must have been rough.

[@JanStrojil]

I see the notification, I watch the video.

[@romanovec]

Exactly ... přesně

[@belleofnamazu]

This is the way

[@VacuousCat]

To regain sanity.

[@ashj_2088]

I see your comment so I responded

[@sy-2]

ok 👌🏿

[@placeholdername0000]

Bring back the parkometer. Also, I have found ONE good argument for adding additional underground parking spaces: It acts as a very nice shelter if Moscovia decides to visit.

[@INTCUWUSIUA]

Yeah it's one of the few good reasons to build underground parking. For instance, all of the underground parking lots in Helsinki are actually just the entrances to a massive underground complex of nuclear bomb shelters.

[@Clickificationist]

For anyone as interested in this topic as I am, I can highly recommend Reading "The High Cost of Free Parking" by Donald Shoup :)

[@Guy-Zero]

At the start of the year my city got rid of all the parking on one side of the road for multiple streets and made the other side only available for people who actually live there and pay for a pass. My dad was like "Were should all these cars go". The change has been in effect for half a year now and there was never a problem.

[@bestmaaad]

So what happens when someone wants to travel outside of the city? Busses? What about going into a mountain, or has many kids? Also who exactly likes crammed up busses and metros? I dont own a car and for me the public transport is just loaded, i cant imagine if even more people start using it. The trick is to make parking spaces that are super efficient. Like building that are covered in trees and plantation just for cars. Yea it tacky and futuristick but that is the only way so people are happy.

[@andreimircea2254]

The part where he said “At that point I had to excuse myself for fear of having a stroke, should the conversation continue.” To me was gold. It makes me laugh so much 🤣🤣🤣 Time stamp for it here: 0:58

[@zetectic7968]

The benefit of public transport is that you are free to do others things: read a book or have a nap, do a crossword or puzzle, look out the window etc. Travel by car & you only have music or the radio plus the anxiety of being stuck in traffic & being late for work. Travel by local train & the journey time is predictable most of the time, in a car you never know how the weather or an accident will screw things up.

[@vitkosbence3705]

That's a nice idea, not relevant to the video sadly. I love traveling by train as well, when it's around 0-70% capacity. Above that it's not that easy to relax. But there even 100% means that everyone has a seat to themselves. What the video is actually about is public transit, in a big city, during rush hour. This means, that on a good day, you have all the space your body occupies to yourself. Similar to sardine in a can. Good luck being productive, or relaxing like that. And before you say "add more buses etc.": Induced demand. It works for a lot of things.

[@jan-lukas]

​@@vitkosbence3705but there's a difference in how it works with different types of transportation. Car lanes are so inefficient that adding them cannot deal with the new traffic they induce, meanwhile bike lanes and more trains usually are efficient enough

[@1403gavin]

**Free Healthcare** **Free Education** **Free Public Transit** If only my country had those 💀😭

[@ffff7164]

North Korea has those.

[@MrTaxiRob]

I think there is a happy medium with multilevel parking structures instead of street parking so that businesses can still draw customers from outside their neighborhood. Housing density doesn't always match retail density, and that very well may be another zoning failure, but it is what it is. If there was a multilevel structure to serve every few blocks' worth of businesses you could maintain walkability and still create "destination" neighborhoods. And then it's just a matter of placement, so that incoming and outgoing traffic during peak times doesn't disrupt the foot traffic on the main drag. Or you could just have streetcars/trams that connect to outside transit routes, but you'd have to build them BEFORE you start expecting people to give up their cars.

[@thecatinthefedora1201]

The city my college is at has this one street on which cars are entirely banned, and it's a decently nice place (if you can ignore the hostile architecture). It's full of businesses which see many more customers than elsewhere, thus proving that fewer cars in an area does benefit small businesses.

[@Ergeniz]

'Hostile architecture'?

[@ospero7681]

@@Ergeniz That's a term for features that are meant to drive away homeless people and other folks that businesses would rather not have near them. The incredibly uncomfortable lean-tos at bus stops, for instance, that seem to have replaced normal benches in a lot of places.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

This channel keeps getting sassier and more iconic ❤

[@jamesspacer7994]

Co-rrect! Now he just needs to cover (in a pragmatic and factual way) the differences in population IQ for different races and how it affects their success or failure in society 👍.

[@soundscape26]

@@jamesspacer7994 IQ measurements are bollocks.

[@jamesspacer7994]

@@soundscape26 Is that the reason why they have such a high predictive ability regarding the subject's socioeconomic status?

[@jamesspacer7994]

@@soundscape26 James Watson was right.

[@sovietmoose5624]

@@jamesspacer7994 You really want to think youre so smart when youre literally doing correlation equals causation. Have you ever considered that systemic racism oppresses and disenfranchies certain groups thus forcing that group to experience poverty more than a non-oppressed group? That such oppression and poverty leads to worse eduation and less opportunities? Y'know, the thing thats been shown to be the cause time and time and time again?

[@ProfPsycDad]

7:16 As a Houstonian, this is the kind of lashing I come here for. NOT because I like it, but I need to be reminded of how it should be and fight for MORE LIGHT RAIL DAMNIT.

[@slateslavens]

9:34 Yesterday I literally watched my neighbor back out of his driveway, pull across the street to check his mail, and pull right back into the driveway. The entire trip was _maybe_ ten car-lengths.

[@congruentcrib]

As someone who is a diehard car fan, this is completely true. The issue I have is free parking leads to a lot more people driving, and more people driving means more demand. This makes it so places that charge for parking are able to have ridiculous prices.

[@myrouhani]

I can tell you a grocery store in our building did close because parking spots were reduced. The issue is that prior to removal of parking, public transit should be made available. Otherwise, it is just one more way to punish those that aren't in wealthier neighborhoods.

[@MrBirdnose]

I had the opposite problem when I lived in the Seattle area. There was no usable park and ride for the light rail system because they wanted to encourage dense housing around it. But those neighborhoods were expensive (like all dense development around transit), so only rich people could access the light rail. That left me driving in and paying for parking instead.

[@warman1944]

This reminds me of my first month in Germany. I went with my Host Family to run some errands in the town square (this was a town of about 10,000 people). We drove, which seemed totally normal to American me, even though it was only a half mile tops. But I was surprised that once we got there, we simply walked from store to store, even when some places were 3 or 4 blocks away. I quickly deduced that it was because parking is kinda hard to find, so once you've got a spot you don't wanna give it up.

[@stonefox2546]

3-4 blocks is really short distance to walk for a healthy person.

[@chillnagasden6190]

@@stonefox2546 This. To get to the closest food-get-place is 7 minutes from my home, and almost half of it is a steady uphill. Last year, to get to my then-place of employment, I had to do that walk and do it 3 more times in terms of length. It was a roughly half an hour walk to get to work, and other than the boredom some times and the occasional brutal weather I was subjected to, it was fine. Granted, after 8 hours I was tired and the walk home sucked when exhausted, but it helped my lose weight lol.

[@warman1944]

@@stonefox2546 I know. It sounds like you're not from America.

[@spookysenpai7642]

I tell people that there should be less parking space in favor of affordable apartments right by a mall, metro stations, bus stations, misc. Then people get mad at me when I tell them this.

[@j.s.6080]

Yes, because there is no such thing as affordable living in city centers.

[@joshuakevinserdan9331]

@@j.s.6080 There would be if there were more apartments. Bulldoze those parking space and make communes. And connect those communes to jobs.

[@lorddane4147]

​@j.s.6080 I mean the cost of things are determined by supply and demand, right? So by replacing the excess parking spaces with apartments(not luxury apartments because they just make the problem worse), it should make apartments in that area cheaper because of the higher supply.

[@Nina-cd2eh]

@@j.s.6080 Which is ironic considering how much more efficient costs are in city centers. Maybe suburbanites should be taxed for all their energy waste and exponential tax-payer burden.

[@thatguythatdoesstuff5899]

​@@joshuakevinserdan9331Eeeh, landlords, building companies and real estate agencies seem to want to get rich quick. They'll just use the accessibility, density and the vicinity of public transportation as an excuse for high prices instead of parking.

[@Tatreusz]

I just love how randomly the Cities : Skylines intro music kicks in 1:51

[@xan-s6s]

They reduced parking spaces in our neighboring big city and now people just don't go there anymore because driving with the bus is not an option and there is no train connecting small villages

[@polyacov_yury]

I started kick-sharing to metro and from metro instead of taking a taxi. Not only my costs went down, but also travel time and nervousness.

[@eurogunslinger]

I live in a small town in Croatia, and we have a long street that goes through the middle of the town centre and connects to the main square/park. Cars are not allowed there and it is the most developed and bussiest part of town. So yeah, you're right. The less cars on the street, the more people will walk and enjoy the clean air.

[@brenonweed923]

The little clip of the Age of Empire music sent me back man. I spent like 30 seconds trying to understand why the music felt so meaningful to me and where it was from lamp.

[@yukko_parra]

i must admit, I never really understood the reason why smart cities were needed. but now hearing about optimisations to parking and revenue? now that sounds cool.

[@midnightflare9879]

"There are not enough parking spaces" *There shouldn't be!*

[@Medytacjusz]

5:09 The Doom scream sample in such contexts always cracks me up. I can't. 7:16 Omg, what a hellscape, my eyes bleed! Thank god I've never seen such a place in real life where I live.

[@ashleyholloway6993]

Seeing how connected a lot of other European cities are makes me realise how behind Dublin still is. Like we have an ok bus system, a couple of rail lines and 2 tram lines. That's it. My general strategy to getting to the city is similar to those mentioned at the start of the video, drive to a commuter town or suburb, then take a bus, but thats because the bus that goes through my relatively small village goes once every 2 hours, which i do take when it happens to be the right time for me. But its not a good option mosy of the time

[@darkwoodmovies]

Whenever I see a parking lot, my first and only thought is "wow, it would be better if they built a mid-rise apartment here".

[@richardbutler4654]

When I lived in London I cycled 60km each day to and from the office(preferred it to multi bus and train changes), living in central Stockholm my car was almost never used within the city. Now we live in the countryside - no useable bus service at all and can't leave the car at the local station due to lack of safe parking. Other stations have a 24hr max parking limit (even paid!) so can't leave the car there to take the train for longer trips. Metro great for city dwellers but not so good for us bumpkins.

[@steventhegamer7187]

Perfect timing with the vid, man. The park in front of my block just got cut in half when they repaved the street and turned into parking space. They didn't even bother to put the benches back in.

[@lernlord9455]

My family had three cars - now only one, which we gonna sell, bc of increased costs for parking 500 euro a month for a garage. But, we can use now awesome public transportation or do our daily stuff via walking

[@TsubataLately]

Just before I was old enough to get bitten by the "car bug" that plagues the minds of so many American youth, my family moved to a miserable sprawling mess of a town. I was used to riding my bike and the light bit of driving my parents did for their own relatively short commutes. Getting anywhere in this new town was impossible by bike and an un-fun slog to endure by car. This impressed upon me at an early age that driving fucking sucks and should be avoided at all costs. And I did avoid it for years at great inconvenience to myself and my poor parents ('tho being a friendless nerd did take some of the pressure off). Now as an adult living abroad in a country with excellent public transportation, not wanting to return to American car culture is a not insignificant reason for me to never live in the US again.

[@ZacharyRodriguez]

Nearly described my life to a T.

[@Valyn]

One problem. This newly made lack of parking needs to be offset with other options. I never go to a nearby town because parking is horrible and expensive. So now I just never go there. Ever. If there were alternatives, that would change the equation though. But when the only way to get around is driving, experience parking turns people away. The hope is that more locals who don't need to drive will use the shops. This is why replacing b parking lots with housing makes sense. Make more locals, so you don't have to rely on people driving in from outside town.

[@wilsonli5642]

Regarding your old coworkers, I'm wondering if for them, owning a car was a status symbol of their new lifestyle and thus desirable in ways not directly related to how to most efficiently spend their money and time.

[@RextheRebel]

Or a freeing way to go where they want when they want in their own time. Unless of course a city makes it impossible by preventing them from driving to work.

[@CrniWuk]

It's not a war on cars. It's that cars are in war with everyone else.

[@Umrtvovacz]

In Prague, a yearly public transport ticket costs 167 dollars. For a whole year of public transport that has at least ten times the coverage and regularity of anything in USA. Why would I drive a car here? On top of it, my mom lives in a small town close to Prague, the bus going there leaves every 30 minutes back and forth, and costs exactly 1 dollar for the 35 minute trip. It's ACed too.

[@Keylevitation]

it hurts to look at those concrete slabs called parking lots. the least they could do is plant some trees so the cars wouldnt get superheated

[@oskarikosola7676]

I've recently started commuting by bicycle and it's amazing at distances up to 10km inside a city: you are getting your required daily dose of exercise, it's faster than taking public transit, it's refreshing and creates a nice opportunity to unwind.

[@pokyto]

holy shit D: 10:02 they literally destroyed a city block of living space for thousands of people to build a bigger road Dx Dx

[@Carbopulator_52]

2:20 incredible segway into an incredible sponsorship, i could have never seen this coming

[@samamies88]

My city got rid of most of free parking, the only few free areas left are time limited (often only 2 hours in lot).. this isn't only reason but has been part of why businesses don't last in center. There are no customers anymore. Other reasons such as online shopping, pandemic and nearby mall are big reasons too. But both businesses and citizens have been talking about free parking for years. Less customers means less businesses and less service leads into even less potential customers. Guess which place has more free parking space than center has? THE MALL. It nearly has monopoly now. Our city has poor public transport. Its expensive, stops early in evening and don't run often enough. Also people live quite far from center so for most locals car is a must have for travelling. Not having free parking for most means that they don't come to center anymore. Im pro pedestrial most of the time but i see my city being outlier where free parking could save it and make it lively again. Now its empty and getting emptier every year.

[@faustinpippin9208]

I love how Adam ignores cases like your but cherry picks only cases where it works (typically city centers that have close car access anyway with good established public transport and only when that street is a niche case)

[@samamies88]

​@@faustinpippin9208 yeah, i do agree with the content creator on big cities with established public transports - i wish my countrys capital city and at least 2 other large cities would go towards bicycle and/or pedestrial friendly infrastructure - but smaller cities in my country really can't follow (and there aren't many large enough, only 6 cities reach population larger than 150k and some of them are too wide and spread for this planning, only 3-4 would have tense enough city centers that it actually could work) edit: i don't even have a car, but i do try and see city-politics both from pedestrian and car owner perspectives

[@prosquatter]

Free parking? What is that? We only get that on Sundays, and you still can't find a parking spot. Oh, wait, why did I start driving everywhere? Right, because they kept cutting down bus lines. I remember when I went to submit documents for my drivers license, had to wait 3 hours at the bus stop in sweltering heat for a bus back home. And I could have walked home in less than 2 hours, but there are no pedestrian safe zones all the way to my house.

[@j.s.6080]

I used to share your opinion towards cars for quite a while but now I am against the increasing oppression towards car traffic. The reason is that public transport dictates your life if you don't have a car: You can only access places when there is a connection available and you usually can't avoid overcrowded trains on major travel days without a significant loss of time. Another factor is price: Going alone by car is a luxury but as soon as you share the costs with another person, it is cheaper than buying two tickets for the train. Also luggage is very limited and the travel itself always unpleasant and disgusting

[@fenchellforelle]

Depending on where you are and where you need to go, even driving alone in a somewhat economical car can be the objectively superior choice. If i was to work in the nearest city from where i live, a monthly ticket to get there and back would be ~140€. My mom drives a Fiat Panda and does actually work in said city, and her monthly upkeep for the car including fuel averages slightly shy of 200€. Of course thats a third more than the bus, but in exchange she saves several hours every day cutting out poor route and inconvenient time table of the bus and has access to the myriad of advantages a personal vehicle has in your private life outside of a major population center.

[@faustinpippin9208]

finally someone smart who understands life...but dont expect to much from Adam he works from home and is a youtuber who's entire agenda is "car bad hurr durr"

[@DoggyHateFire]

Even though I live in a rural area where public transit would be completely impractical and cars are a necessity, there are still too many parking places. I will go to a Walmart, a big hardware store, many casual dining restaurants, and other places that are generally busy throughout the day and I swear the only times I see parking lots that are more than 2/3 full are right before or during holidays that are traditionally busy. I can't even remember the last time it took me more than two minutes to find a parking space. Such a waste of space.

[@giovannifavullo7065]

This is not a black or white question, I do live near a street that was quite popular and is near a lot of public transport, then got closed to cars and lost much of its attractiveness, now it's desolated and maybe also a drug trading square. Also a lot of old houses cannot have an underground parking built and people still need at least 1 car per family to do something they can't on foot.

[@Meirstein]

Parking garages are pretty great too. You can save ground space by building up, you can put them next to walkable neighborhoods to maintain the convenience to people who both live there and visit, by using concrete instead of asphalt you limit the amount of heat you trap, the outsides can be decorated so that they fit in pretty well with the surrounding buildings, they're almost always paid for either by hourly rates or monthly passes, and in many cases can be built underground directly under buildings to take up no space at all.

[@stylesrj]

Yeah but those cost more money since you need to build a tall concrete structure, wire it up, put in plumbing, have safety inspectors check it out...

[@Faerindel]

Did Adam work out how actually well connected was his coworker at the start of the video? Or he simply assumed that just because there's a tram stop near her home that's good enough? I have a bus stop at like 30m away from my doorstep, and others nearby, and it got me fairly close to work. When I ended up getting a car my commute became like 25mins, over half of it by walking from/to the free parking space. "WHY??=!?!" You may ask, having a stroke. Well, I got a car because any of those bus commutes took well over an hour to cover a distance of merely 10km. If the scheduling and routing of the public transport suck, those stops are not really usable.

[@lubossoltes321]

That's nice for intra-city traffic. You can use public transport usually in most cities. However you forgot the 2nd large part of the problem, daily commute from longer distances or simply tourists/visitors. Sure free parking is not really the answer there as well, but raising the price for entry into the city suddenly decreases income and leaves all the nice places in the city without cars a bit emptier. It's not like you have good or even adequate mass transport options everywhere.

[@ZgermanGuy.]

7:25 there is literally no reason to build it like this. I am not so sure if a city with 100% no car use is realistic but you dont have to flatten the entire earth that way. If you take one of these scquares and build a park house you can keep the other spaces free

[@thepopulationofkazakhstan1116]

Cities used to exist even before cars, so it is possible

[@gyurmarajzfilm]

In my city - despite having decent public transport - families with small kids would die if they can't drop off or pick up their kids with a car, as it takes somewhat more time on public transport. Convenience wins. As of the rest of the country it is absolutely hopeless as it is so low populated that public transport is not viable for the most, not locally, and not inbetween villages/towns. Towns are super far from each other and if you are more than one person travelling, taking a car is almost always cheaper than buying two or more train- or bus tickets. In short: Cars rule absolutely everywhere and there is no way out of it.

[@Alpha1598753]

The US is the kind of place that if you made a city car free, there would be air traffic jam from all the helos

[@bblvrable]

There's barely any free parking in my city, and most of it is absurdly expensive, yet people still insist on driving because culturally, taking public transit is seen as an activity reserved for the poors.

[@Ex3quias]

Next vid should be about how 'free' games exploit their playerbase to make money. Maybe add a bit on how content creators will just about say anything to get that sweet sponsor money.

[@Mike_TGL]

I work in parking enforcement, and some of things you see will shock you. There is a busy street with a car park both at the start and at the end of it, but people will still attempt to park their cars on the actual street itself, despite there not being any room to do so. They will often park over pedestrian crossings and pavements to achieve this.

[@BunkerSquirrel]

If only every urban planner knew the brilliance of The Neverhood. Lobby for cities to be more like The Neverhood

[@mortenbecks2017]

On-street parking in city centres should be reserved for residents/delivery vans/mobile nursing services/craftspeople who are doing work in the area and need to transport equipment. My city has implemented this in a few hotspots. If you live there, you get a handful of "one-day guest passes" that you can use for your visitors or the people coming to remodel your bathroom, etc. If you have a car yourself, you pay a very reasonable amount for an annual parking-pass.

[@gonza4019]

It always baffles me how americans demolished entire cities just to reduce car commute time by 5 minutes.

I subscribe to 95% of the message in this video. However "just making the parking more expansive" is not necessarily an answer. The effect of just increasing parking prices is that high net-worth individuals will keep on driving into the city regardless (for "convenience") and lower net-worth individuals will have to make do with alternatives. I believe that the emphasis needs to be placed at making it easier to use public transport in the first place. Once it's faster and easier to take a metro then driving, most people will do that :-) (and maybe some smart publicity campaign to make notorious drivers consider the alternatives)

[@Mark-vn7et]

As a resident of the Netherlands, who for this channel is like the utopia when it comes to public transport there are certain hiccups. Yes it’s true in city’s like Amsterdam that public transport is really good. But I live in the opposite of the country, I do have access to a train station, to city buses. But yet I rarely use them and also not my friends/family. Buses start driving at 7 until around 9 o clock in the evening. So good luck when you work in shifts and have to start at 6 in the morning, not to mention that going from your house to a local hub and having to switch buses to the industrial site takes around 3! Times as long as with your car. If I’m meeting up with friends I always have to look on the clock to be on time to make it to the last bus ride. Hell even on a Sunday and I want to go to Amsterdam with friends (it’s a direct train-connection) we take the car because the trainticket is so expensive compared to sharing a car with my 3 friends (60 euros gasoline compared to over 200 euros for tickets) Public transit works great if you live in a high density neighborhood with a metrostop every 10 minutes and your work is also connected to that metrosystem. But the fact is that it doesn’t make economic sense to do that in 90% of the Netherlands. And you only need one small hiccup for the entire public transit to fail for you, that’s the main problem. So here I am. a bus stop 2 min walk from my home, a trainstation 20 min bikeride from my home and yet I always use my car.

[@wilberdebeer4696]

Well you do realize that car parks can be underground, multistory and can be subsidised by the building it's attached to, ie a office block has basement parking and rooftop parking. Also all parking lots can have solar panels covering the entire parking lot which would add more value to them. American shopping centres in suburbs usually don't have these kinds of parking lots however most South African ones do, there is still parking around the shopping centre however most is underneath it.

[@notyouraccount6038]

I live in Asuncion Paraguay, and some buisnemans here is reforming a city distric to be a pedestrian friendly area. The name is Distrito Peseverancia. 😊

[@AdamRifi]

I am from Vienna, they used to have free parking everywhere but recently changed their system. Now, you can only park your car for free on the side of the road if it is in the same district you live. So if you work in any of the other 22 districts of the city, you cannot park there (at least for free on the road). Still a relatively new system but I hope it will get roads more free

[@allen_key]

The UK is good at charging for parking. If spaces are free they are generally time limited or it is after business hours. Park and Ride schemes where you leave the car in an out of town car park and pay a couple of quid to bus in work well too. They're a bit like taking your shoes off at the door. It's easy to hate on cars but being a villager it is hard to operate without one. There's also the unexplainable bond you make with them.

[@sanninjiraiya]

I hate how the US seems hell bent on stopping free healthcare or higher education but will prioritize parking

[@Gage_The_Comrade_or_Something]

& when people try to push for free healthcare or education in the US, they’re called “freeloaders” & “welfare queens” by lobbying news outlets, retired 70 year olds who live on retirement benefits & wire half of their savings to a scammer, &/or rich-off-of-daddy’s-money hedge fund 30 year olds with Ford trucks larger than the Eiffel Tower

[@___Me_]

For some reason parking pretty much affects everything in cities, but for some reason was/is hardly discussed (except how and where to build more of it). Let's hope videos like these and books like 'Paved Paradise' can finally change that.

[@lupen_rein]

Cars are still popular though. The reason isn't that people love cars and parking spaces. The reason is that most people already have a car and if you have a car, you need to put it somewhere, therefore you need a garage or parking spaces. It's the sunk cost fallacy. You already invested so much money into your car that you feel like you have to use it or at least have it somehow. And if people want to "take it away", it's very inconvenient for them. It's like a room that's used for storage of stuff that you don't actually need, just HAVE. If someone proposes to you that that room is used in a completely futile way and that you should throw away that stuff and use it for something more useful like a home office space, you are likely to be offended, because you don't see it as a suggestion for a better life, but as a personal attack on you. After all, that person wants you to "give up something" and even "throw away your belongings". They have a car and they need somewhere to put them, and if someone doesn't like that, they get offended and frightened over their "personal space". The battle over cars is very emotional for car users, to them it's an issue of identity and personal worth, and much less about the efficiency of public transport, social benefits or urban planning. And if it's about identity and emotional issues, you can only lose this debate... facts don't matter then.