American transportation costs are some of the highest in the world, and is the biggest hit on family budgets after housing.
Cars are one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas pollution causing climate change.
Tire pollution is the biggest source of micro plastics in the ocean.
Driving is the deadliest activity we regularly do, the biggest source of childhood death, though guns are now not far behind in the US.
Car centric urban design leads to long commute times, social isolation, lack of exercise, all of which are much worse in car centric places.
Car centric suburban sprawl is why the US and Canada have a housing crisis, despite so much space.

On the contrary, I can hardly think of anything else that has as much negative impact on so many aspects of society.

[–] lemmefixdat4u@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What seems to be impossible is to locate businesses, their employees, and stores geographically close together. I have lots of friends who drive over an hour each way for work. I used to drive 30 minutes to my job. Now my wife and i work from home and for the first time in my life we have only one car. But there's no way we could go without a car. Family lives 120 miles away. Groceries are 10 miles, and other necessities are 26 miles. The US was laid out to require personal vehicles. It's too spread out to have a functioning mass transit system that's convenient to use.

Using the such a system in the US, even if convenient, has risks. During the peak of COVID, many riders refused to wear masks. There's no security, no hygiene or conduct standards for riders (try to sit next to a crazy homeless person or someone higher than a kite for 45 minutes), and when you try to get help from law enforcement, nobody shows up.

[–] Lucky@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

All of that is fixable with the right policies

End zoning restrictions which requires all single family homes in a given area and allow mixed zoning. Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs are doing this right now and there are apartments going up with the ground floor being shops, grocery stores, etc. Minneapolis is the first US city to rein in inflation below 2% because housing hasn't been as much of an issue. They started funding higher density housing back in 2018 and it is paying off tremendously right now.

One you build a few apartment buildings in the same area you can support bussing to the surrounding area, and most people can get around to where they need to for work.

Ideally you get light rail, but nimbyism is a huge pain that is hard to overcome. Still though, just getting to that point reduces the number of trips you need especially if you build bike trails to make short distance commuting even easier without a car.

[–] wildncrazyguy@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

If Mussolini got the trains to run on time, why shouldn’t we?

[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Not to mention, to really achieve what they're suggesting, most of the US would need to be completely razed and built back up from scratch. However, these comments always phrase it as if it's just a simple matter of opinion whether you live in a car-centric culture or not.

[–] SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that improving public transportation requires cities to be “completely razed”. What a ridiculous straw person. Incremental change is not only possible, it’s already happening.

[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is that not what you referenced when you said "moving away from car-centric urban design and culture?" How does that happen without rebuilding downtown areas and suburbs? Sending a few more busses out to suburbia isn't going to change anything.

[–] SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I shouldn’t have to say this, but no, “moving away from” does not mean “completely raze”. 🙄

[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So what does it mean? Adding a few more busses to suburbia like I said? Why don't you explain what you mean rather than wasting so much time telling others that they're not understanding you correctly?

[–] SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

Why don’t you ask me first instead of writing your first ridiculous bad faith comment? I have no obligation to take time and effort to respond carefully to that kind of intellectual dishonesty. “What, just add buses like I said?” shows an unwillingness to actually learn anything.

If you’re actually curious and asking in good faith, here’s another more reasonable way to ask your question: Is there anything reasonable that can be done to incrementally improve public transportation? The answer is obviously yes.

infill existing developments with added density. For example, we massively overbuild parking lots. Most are half empty even at the busiest times of day. Build low rise apartments in these areas. For example, a small apartment in the parking lot of supermarket strip mall. Infilling is already happening.
infill suburban neighborhoods with additional units. Allow secondary units, basement units, eliminate set backs, allow townhouses and mid rise apartments everywhere. Added density doesn’t have to look that different.
repurpose the thousands of vacant malls into housing. Malls are already conveniently located next to highways and other businesses. Parking lots around malls are a blank canvas for a new walkable urban center. This is already happening.
eliminate parking minimums for new constructions.
eliminate exclusive single family home zoning for new constructions.
don’t allow any more new suburban sprawl.
build sidewalks, bike lanes and separated bike roads. Most suburban streets are enormous and can easily be modified without greatly affecting traffic.
allow mixed zoning, such as small corner stores in suburban residential areas. Even a single small grocer, coffee shop, childcare center, etc can start to eliminate some (not all!) local car trips. The US and Canada are some of the only places where you literally can’t have anything interesting in a residential area.
in Europe and Asia, even low density suburbs get bus service. In combination with the measures above, bus service becomes worthwhile. Yes, even in the suburbs.
make city centers car free or slowly start to eliminate places cars can go. This encourages the use of other modes, increases economic activity, and makes people safer. The most valuable real estate in the world is not car centric.
the highway system is crumbling and many highways need to be totally replaced. This is an opportunity to build trains or dedicated bus lines.

These aren’t my opinion. This is what many urban planning experts propose, and the empirical evidence say they work. Don’t tell me it’s impossible because it’s already happening!

“But this wouldn’t work in my personal neighborhood!”

OK. It doesn’t have to work everywhere for things to improve. We will always need some cars, but we can at least move away from car centric urban planning.