this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023

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Fuck Cars

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73

fuck cars, rural edition (lemmy.basedcount.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by kingludd@lemmy.basedcount.com to c/fuck_cars@lemmy.ml

76 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So suppose we don't like cars and want to not need them. What are the transportation alternatives for rural areas? Are there viable options?

Edit:

Thank you all for interesting comments. I should certainly have been more specific-- obviously the term "rural" means different things to different people. Most of you assumed commuting; I should have specified that I meant more for hauling bulk groceries, animal feed, hay bales, etc. For that application I really see no alternative to cars, unfortunately. Maybe horse and buggy in a town or village scenrio.

For posterity and any country dwellers who try to ditch cars in the future, here are the suggestions:

Train infrastructure, and busses where trains aren't possible

Park and rides, hopefully with associated bike infrastructure

No real alternative and/or not really a problem at this scale

Bikes, ebikes, dirtbikes

Horse and buggy

Ride share and carpooling

Don't live in the country

Walkable towns and villages

Our greatgrandparents and the amish did it

A lot of you gave similar suggestions, so I won't copy/paste answers, but just respond to a few comments individually.

(page 2) 28 comments

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[–] Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Heyyy rural 19th century small "historic" town here.

Historically, my town was in lumber and you'd literally have building materials moved down the river and sold at their equivalent of home depot but on the water.

Streetcars connected the very center of town.

A rail line splits the center of town, so goods never needed a highway to reach here!

In current day, there is a highway built next to a road, and that road is ripe for a bike lane. Downtown is safe for cyclists and pedestrians during the day, but at night its dark and there's parking on both sides of the streets FULL for people to visit restaurants and bars.

A lot of small policy changes could fix all this mess, but alas it will probably not happen so I am going to move next year.

It sucks that my area is so clearly set up for the highway to be this main line connecting towns. And if it were a 30 mile long LRT, everyone in a massive rural/suburban/small city area could ditch cars entirely. But with new money coming in from federal and state government, everyplace is actually building the worst car-dependent and pedestrian unfriendly infrastructure for the first time! Shit that has been proven by studies over decades to not work.

[–] Treczoks@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (12 children)

There are a number of things that amaze me in this group. Like you all take it for granted that everyone is capable to ride a bike from here to sunset, and that the same bike is sufficient to haul whatever it is to be hauled. This is the narrowminded worldview of young, single city-dwellers that can reach all necessary places easily by public transport or bike or even foot within a few minutes.

I've lived in the country where there was (and probably still is) "the morning bus" and "the evening bus", and the next city was 30+km away. And you are really telling those people not to use cars?

[–] kingludd@lemmy.basedcount.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, I was surprised how many responses didn't consider hauling at all. I really don't need to commute anywhere at all. I'm happy just staying home. But I do have to haul hay bales, feed sacks, and 50lb sacks of groceries.

[–] glasgitarrewelt@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cars make sense if you have to haul a lot of stuff. Craftsmen in the city, firetrucks, ambulances, police, farmers,... The right car for the right job is not the problem of our car dependency and doesn't need a solution.

[–] kingludd@lemmy.basedcount.com 1 points 1 year ago

Fair enough, I guess. I was just hoping for a way out of my personal car dependency.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 year ago

you all take it for granted that everyone is capable to ride a bike from here to sunset, and that the same bike is sufficient to haul whatever it is to be hauled

Not a single person here has said or even implied this. Everyone here has suggested several different kinds of transport, including but not limited to bicycles. Not only that, but nearly every comment has acknowledged that some car use in the countryside is probably necessary. I recommend actually reading the comments here rather than assuming you know what they say and getting angry about it.

[–] randomperson@lemmy.world -5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Bro. It's a community for people that wish they could drive.

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago

More like a community of people who wish they didn't have to drive

[–] glasgitarrewelt@feddit.de -1 points 1 year ago

What makes you think that the majority of people noticing the enormous car dependency can't drive? I bet the opposite is true, people driving a lot will notice the lunacy earlier. If they aren't completely stupid and blind.

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