Az663
141045
2719
62
Jul 25, 2022 12:40 PM
Az663
141045
2719
62
SometimesIFeelLikeAGenius
Imagine on your commute doing something productive like reading, relaxing, giving full attention to SO, or watching videos (with headphones)
ObliqueRay
When I was a teenager I remember wondering why teens in American movies were so keen to get a car. We just did mass transit a lot.
Aechily
ineedausernamerightmeow
I mean, both. Especially for people with disabilities etc. Though I'd be okay with requiring special permits to operate cars in cities
thevortexmaster
I use my truck for work and play but I don't live in a major city. I couldn't imagine not driving but the option should be there
DamascusFire
bUt ThE pRoFiTs
Nocran
Amen to this
TwitchyEyebrow
Can you imagine a world with only 1/3 the amount of vehicles??!
Crispo
The rich country is not the one were rich people uses cars but public transportation
Stefnos
free, clean, reliabel, public transport... thats the real dream
Noxnarie
Citybikes and electric kickbikes have actually made huge difference in Finland. We also have really good puplic transit in capital.
Noxnarie
Pretty much all trains, busses, trams and metros arrive every 10mins in capital and they go almost everywhere in the city.
RealityIsOftenDisappointing
But you have to drive to the train? Or-wait. It’s all trains. From Everywhere? To everywhere? And it’s sustainable??? My mind! It boggles!
jridley
Worthy.OTOH they will never have public transit to places like where I live. It would take 100,000s of busses running with 0 to 3 passengers
digasisv
Also would also like public transit that also gets to where you want to go in a reasonable amount of time.
oepix9000
Problem with the self driving cars is, as long as there are manual cars, there is too much random stuff for them.
oepix9000
Also would help a lot if the cars share information which each other. Like "Breaking now" or "something is in the way".
OneMoreRide
So, Japan.
CaptainDogWasTheBestDog
Just came back from France, was blown away by how cool Aux en Provances downtown was
GuggelPlayer
Helsinki, move here, I will buy you a beer
whatthefuck9999999
It gives me some hope that this stuff gets upvoted on imgur. Can we have bike lanes too though?
blitzstange
The robust public trans here in Portland, OR use to be my go to. Sadly it's inundated with shootings, stabbings, tweakers, and muggings.
Kenmaira
I lived in Switzerland, and even during the snowstorms, the bus was at most 5 minutes late. I'd live there in a heartbeat
lljkstonefish
I don't give a fuck how regular public transit is. If it doesn't go where I want it to go, it's useless to me.
whatthefuck9999999
that's why you need a little e-skateboard (if you're brave)/e-scooter (if you're not) to get you the last mile
lljkstonefish
We've got e-scooters to rent all around the centre of town. No fucking way could you carry one of those with you if you need one elsewhere.
lljkstonefish
and if have a smaller one, it's cargo in addition to your actual cargo, that you have to lug about, and store, and charge.
lljkstonefish
Oh and you lawfully need a helmet too. and I came off one once so I'd recommend elbow/knee pads and gloves too. my palms were raw red meat.
whatthefuck9999999
sounds like you need to hit the gym mate
lljkstonefish
and if it does, it's a taxi, which is just a car you can drive while drunk. which is nice, but not an everyday plan.
elucca
Public transit works just fine for me as the everyday plan because the network is good enough.
hurrdurr69
...what?
lljkstonefish
The only kind of public transport that goes where I want it to go is a taxi, which requires the same infrastructure as owning your own car.
hurrdurr69
...okay? What does that have to do with this post lmao
lljkstonefish
I'm contesting his point, and saying that I do want cars as default, because cars are superior to public transport. PT is a shit compromise.
mikenco
It's going to take time, especially when there is so much resistance to projects like HS2.
AgainstMethod
HS2 seems like kind of a distraction. The same money could do so much more investing in metro transit instead of the new, "innovative" thing
PballQhead
And HS2 is only 330 miles. That's literally 1/10 NY-LA. Transcontinental HSR is simply not feasible, technically or sociopolitically.
stopitcharlesgetoutofmyhead
HS2 isnt controversial because people are against high speed rail. HS2 is controversial because of...
stopitcharlesgetoutofmyhead
its environmental impact to natural ancient woodlands, it's known lack of delivery to the places it was actually intended for...
stopitcharlesgetoutofmyhead
and that existing rail infrastructure upgrades would have been more effective. HS2 is essentially a vanity project that serves very few.
stopitcharlesgetoutofmyhead
stopitcharlesgetoutofmyhead
oldpotatoes
Thats nice, for you, I still want cars though. I don't want my only living options to be cities. I need a quiet home bc of my mental health.
whatthefuck9999999
you can get to quiet places by train in plenty of countries.
TheGreatAtomsk
just come to europe.
TinyLiehon
Specifically Switzerland.
rainb0w0range
MEH. I still have to use my car everyday, bc the connections just don't work out. not enough bus stops & busses in the right places/timings.
jakobbp
I am in Europe. Public transport is a shitshow where I live. But Finland, Netherlands and parts of Austria appear to be doing great.
s1ka
Parts of Finland
Racealistic
In Netherlands can confirm great public transportation. However, it cost so freakin much.
totallyspambox
Three words: hoverboards…
goflyblind
[deleted]
[deleted]
WonderfunkJones
syballanles?
weirdcalculator
Actual hoverboards (not that no-hands Segway bullshit) would be great but the supercooled magnet infrastructure would cost a fortune.
whatthefuck9999999
Onewheels aren't hoverboards... they are really cool though.
bladderinfection
Sex doll + flying motorcycle = HoverBroad
GoldblumNoises
Kill Hagrid. 2 birds with 1 stone. Got it.
Iatesomecoffeecups
How environmentally freindly would hoverboards be
Az663
It doesn't seem very efficient and even safe, considering that transporation usually involves cargo.
FetaForMoses
Hovertruck. Zeppelin 2.0
TaintToucher
Ah yes hoverboards, short for hover over boards
MAN9000
Imagine if we had politicians who would talk about what we can do instead of what we can't do.
drosophilamelanogaster
One word: Europe...
MrKnowItAll1903
I want a train from Seattle to Chicago in 8 hours!
TheBlueMuppet
Thats an average of 257mph, over a distance of 2063 miles. Thats nuts considering you'd either need to bring that fuel with you, or get
MrKnowItAll1903
Yup, that's what I want!
TheBlueMuppet
all those states in between to power it electrically...which would requre a lot of energy. Amtrak trains typically only go 100mph.
MrKnowItAll1903
Empire Builder between Seattle and Chicago hit high speed of 86, and average much lower!
TheHappyHermit
in America, sprawl and the pressure to have your own "house w/ the picket fence" has made things like this a far, far off dream...
nopo
Also the segregation of business and residential zones. And a lack of pedestrian shortcuts.
putcleverusernamehere
Yup. Dream about healthcare and forget about high speed rail
zookeeBandit
I moved to the burbs so my kids could be in a great public school. STL city schools are a mess. Otherwise I would have stayed despite crime.
nclu
Same. White flight really screwed us because former generations took the best schools to the least sustainable spaces
Babaloga
It's actually more concrete than that. Multi-Family and Medium Density zoning is illegal is most of the US due in part to lobbying from GM.
DocNitro
'House with Picket Fence' works if you have bus stops every, say, 10 houses or so, in the suburbs. Electrically powered buses, that converge
AgainstMethod
10 houses seems like a bit much. As long as there's a sidewalk, I'll walk a few blocks just fine.
7Rhymes
Our nearest bus stop is a 30 minute walk down a street with no sidewalks and people who yell if you walk in their yards.
thatanonymoususer
Or within biking distance with safe places for bikes that are actually maintained. Not Just Bikes on YouTube does a lot of vids on it.
DrKriegersClone
How dare people aspire to own a detached house, instead of rent a 400 sq ft shoebox!
Mairoa
I've spent most of my life in apartments and fuck hearing every single word my neighbors say. Fuck being woken up at 4am by drunks. Fuck it.
DocNitro
on a central bus station, which can then also be a hub for tram, subway or genuine railway.
FlaccidHamster
Except the sprawl is too large so the bus ride would take forever to get anywhere with frequent stops.
1mshadowbanned
We need to save the world! Ok. Build public transport. No. Subsidize refurbing existing cars. No. Subsidize work from home. No buy a Tesla
PossumPoop
I’m lucky enough to work for bikeshare in a city expanding public transportation. One of very few in USA.
eightyearplan
https://drawdown.org/sectors/transportation
jakobbp
Work from home is already cheaper for companies where I live, yet my company prefers to pay me 6k/year so I can waste my time commuting...
fatcatdeadrat101
Think of all the money companies would save on Office space, that's pure profit. I think it's middle management that can't stand the idea.
jakobbp
It' not just the MM. Most older CEOs here can't get it up unless they see an army of their minions every day.
fatcatdeadrat101
One never met a CEO. Especially a CEO of a company I was working for. But I suspect you are correct because it makes sense.
datester35
I don't see a problem with mass adoption of electric self driving cars. Many traffic and environmental issues can be fixed with them.
eightyearplan
if we think two steps ahead.. automated electric cars are ok.. but there are better things to do than build 5 billion new cars..
eightyearplan
automated electric buses, taxi fleets on speed dial, sure.. but you know , for major boulevards and highways, might as well have a tram
eightyearplan
And we can design new cities (even re-develop existing) to have apartments over grocery stores and malls.. bikepaths.. to be walkable
Type17
They still take up all the space of an ICE car, so no traffic solution there (source: I have one, and still get into jams)
datester35
Yeah as of right now, but in the future if all of them connect via a smart grid there will be little to no traffic
jakobbp
You forgot about self-driving part. Idiots on road are major cause of jams and deaths (which are morbid-ironically good for the environment)
Cpthornswoggler
I love visiting the US, but I miss being about to walk to the shops, and a lot of areas seem to be just massive wide roads and carparks.
rollercostarican
new york city is VERY walkable. The stations smell sometimes, but it's fine lol.
ArthurPhillipDent
They built it that way on purpose to keep minorities out (because it was unlikely they could afford a car at the time)
G0MeatCube
Yeah we are starting to hate it too
PballQhead
Yeah, if you visit I recommend either urban centers, or the Vast Expanse. Stay out of the suburbs/"developed areas".
LurkerOfDarkness
Only like a handfull of urban centers are really worth visiting though, the vast expanses are much better.
PballQhead
True; the NE (DC/Philly/NYC/Boston) is worth a visit, and Chicago and NOLA, but other than that…go to the Allagash.
OhNoNotThatGuyQuickEverybodyHide
Our cities used to be built around public transport, but that changed as we started to get addicted to cars.
YangKoete
I call them Stroads. Just dull, boring expanses of no sidewalk.
prufock
Same here in Canada. A few of the bigger cities have decent public transport, but we got some wide open spaces.
rudejohn
Lots of towns near me have a "downtown" where you can walk and shop and eat and don't need a car all day. But you still have to drive there.
ExTechOp
In the US we walked from a friend's house to a nearby shopping center — a concerned little old lady stopped their car and asked are we OK?
ExTechOp
It took a bit of explaining that we do enjoy going for a walk, though there weren't actual sidewalks all the way.
JackalRailroad
I grew up in the "wide open" part of the US, and now I live in a traffic infested metropolis. Seems like it should even out.
maxximii
The worst parts of this country by a large margin is the "walkable" areas. High crime, dirty, expensive, and just terrible.
PhenTsoksar
I get what you're saying as something wonderful can be said about walking around old world cities and getting places without cars. Yet, (1/
PhenTsoksar
there is the delightful freedom one can only have behind the wheel of a car in the Americas of exploring, discovering, as the spirit (2/
PhenTsoksar
moves you. Pointing your car in one direction and just going. Perhaps with the internet and our era that there fewer people are (3/
PhenTsoksar
infected with Wanderlust.
kirmokum
you're talking about highways not city centres. there is no wonderlust from driving between strip malls or stuck in traffic jams.
OnlyWantToSayOneThing
America sets a "tax zone" where only one type of building can legally be built. Residential Zoning vs Commercial Zoning. It is legally 1/?
OnlyWantToSayOneThing
speaking very hard to put any business within walking distance of a house. So we create the problem of massive suburbs that you would 2/?
OnlyWantToSayOneThing
have to walk 40 mins through to get to the bus stop, then that bus drives 10 mins to the block with the business you want. 3/?
OnlyWantToSayOneThing
In a lot of non american places, the "shops" are on the corner, a 5 minute walk. Buses are for skipping a 40 min walk. 4/4
bogdog799
I'm seeing more "mixed use" developments in the burbs in my town. Commercial on the ground floors, apartments/condos on the uppers. 1/
bogdog799
/2 but it's mostly expensive condos. They're sorta trying though. Public transit still mostly nonexistent.
thedarkcanuck
They build more lanes to free up traffic, and all it seems to do is invite more cars
Sensiblyinteresting
Make traffic less bad in an area and Google maps routes more cars that way
kamkor1
That is exactly what it does. Only way to really reduce traffic is having multiple means of transit both public and private
DavidBrooker
My neighborhood, the road in front of my house and one block up were both two-way streets that got really busy on weekdays. They were 1/n
DavidBrooker
both torn up to be one lane, one-way (one in either direction) with protected bike lanes. So many bikes use them that overall traffic 2/n
DavidBrooker
volume *increased*, despite much less car traffic, zero congestion for cars, road noise is near zero now, and fewer traffic accidents. 3/n
DavidBrooker
Literally cannot see a downside, even for motorists. But the local conservative newspaper still cites it as an example of the 'war on 4/n
LebronJamesDean
There have been multiple studies done that prove adding lanes does not improve traffic flow. People just fill up the lanes.
LebronJamesDean
https://www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traffic-induced-demand/amp it’s called induced demand.
chloramphenicolderivative
Just immediately go from 2 to 20 lanes. Can't fill up the lanes now.
BloodRage4
That's all fine and dandy until those 20 lanes have to merge to 2 or 3 lanes lol.
chloramphenicolderivative
Merge it four lanes at a time, each pair of two lanes merge, then one goes 2 meters in the air. and merges by dropping down unto the other.
JanglesPrime
They recently redid the lanes on the highway near me and all it seems to have done is made the shoulder wider on one side and smaller on the
thedewser
Why isn't someone researching teleportation??? I'm ok with the risk of becoming a manfly
oldpotatoes
People are researching that
djj25
Become a man-bear-pig
4sambucas
If there teleportation was a ting, I would visit more places. Take a day in NY, or Hong Kong, and be home by night
thedewser
I like the fact that this thread has some theoretical discussions going on. Now let's talk about the warp and Gellar fields!
TheobromineAddict
Work-from-home is a far more practical solution.
thedewser
Not as exciting though as I've been doing it for over 3 years now.
thomas1978
Teleportation is technically a hologram. Video chat is very close.
manulofdoom
Why isn't someone researching magic??? I'm ok with the risk of being turned into a newt!
GCRust
I'm with McCoy and Barclay on Transporters. No thank you ripping my atoms apart.
goflyblind
DrRad
They are. Quantum entanglement stuff.
manulofdoom
No they aren't. It was dumb to call it "teleportation", and, quantum isn't magic!
rainb0w0range
that only 'teleports' information, not matter.
AgainstMethod
I'd settle for that.
OhNoDontTouch
so far..
Sagsquatch
isn't all matter just information?
AgainstMethod
It is not, no.
Sagsquatch
there are physicists that believe that information is just another form of matter, just sayin
OriginalSyn
Teleportation is almost certainly never going be practically feasible, even in Star Trek it requires killing you and making an exact copy.
thedewser
Don't threaten me with a good time!!
TheAlviss
The little spoken of details of transporter technology.
OriginalSyn
So basically you'd need to be able to compute the exact quantities, and configurations of atoms in your body and have a nano factory capable
OriginalSyn
of rapidly reconstructing it at another location, with the materials on hand. And a network to transfer that massive amount of data
madrush
Never have I ever thought of the technical workings of teleportation
JustTryingToHelpDude
It's like a fax machine. Scan, send data, reconstruct. Only in this case also shred the original. Its a suicide box yay
rainb0w0range
that's the star trek-solution. but what about star gate-solutions? something with folding space and creating direct connections somehow?
OriginalSyn
Technically Star Trek's version is more theoretically possible, SG required harnessing wormholes with exotic energy (ie., naquada/ZPMs) and
aquanight
Except as they explain it... they're still taken apart to be sent through the wormhole and reassembled on the other side.
rainb0w0range
If that was the case some transporter-weirdness like the stuff Barclay saw would not make sense. You are reconstructed from your own atoms.
aquanight
Barclay's experience (and I think a few other cases) pretty much confirms consciousness remains continuous through the transport... somehow.
rainb0w0range
That only makes sense if there is some kind of 'soul' or paranormal consciousness that exists even if you body is pratically non-existent...
rainb0w0range
It is quite close to making a copy and killing the original though.
Raeilgunne
mass to energy to mass
rainb0w0range
I thought it was an actual beam of particles. But now that I say it loud, that would not got through solid rock... hmmmm...