cooker

Wrong thread.

RPK79

They all kind of seem like one big thread.

I-Like-To-Bike

Last time I was in Germany, ALL the Autobahns were without tolls for automobiles and light trucks. Also don't recall any shortage of imported goods of all types for sale. Don't believe that Germany or any other prosperous country is choosing or even considering a/your scheme to stop supporting/financing (or in your word "subsidizing") their highway system in order to restrain "non essential" trade or travel throughout their jurisdiction, or allegedly give a boost to those who wish to live car free.

The newer tolls by GPS tracking for heavier trucks only on Autobahns has no affect on car drivers "paying for their own road use" in Germany. Note also that the report indicates that the potential for modal shift to rail has yet to be realized.

Wanna make a prediction about it in the appropriate thread?

I-Like-To-Bike

Sez who?

I-Like-To-Bike

Correct! Traveling without a credit card can make life more difficult. Anyone try latel making many airline or hotel reservations without one? I suppose stealth camping in the woods or freeloading on a friend's couch doesn't require a license or a credit card.

RPK79

I have. Unless you consider a debit card a credit card.

I-Like-To-Bike

For travel purposes I would consider them the same, unless the traveler doesn't have sufficient funds in the underlying bank account to pay for the purchase or anticipated/potential costs of the hotel reservation.

RPK79

Then they shouldn't be traveling.

I-Like-To-Bike

But wouldn't that concept discriminate against poor people from traveling and vacationing just like people who do have the financial resources to support their chosen activities?

RPK79

Hah, funny. That would be some people's definition of discrimination.

Roody

Why would you get a car and give up LCF?

ricebowl

dui cleared

cooker

This is just so much off-topic nonsense.

I-Like-To-Bike

Are we in agreement that schemes to rejigger the financing of the highway system and the entire economy to assure that small target groups of the population don't pay for anything that they think they don't use as much as other people are nonsense as well as OT political stuff?

kickstart

I thought we were communicating, but apparently not.
All I can say is ekdog, cooker, tandempower, and yourself make LCF a very caustic, hateful, unwelcoming forum to anyone who doesn't meet your ideals, or accept them as irrefutable facts.

RPK79

Rejigger

Roody

I think by communicating, you mean agreeing. I'm a strong proponent of carfree living both as a personal preference and a social good. I understand that you don't agree with the "social good" part of that--and it's really more fun and more interesting when we don't always agree.

I don't believe I've ever treated you with disrespect as a person, or tried to stop you from expressing your opinions, or tried to make you feel uncomfortable for holding opinions that I don't like. I have expressed my disagreement strongly on some issues. That's part of an internet forum, and I'm careful to distinguish between hating an opinion and not hating a person who is brave enough to express the hated opinion. Again, if you show that I have, I will apologize and try not to do it again. But you do have to recognize that voicing certain opinions on a forum (as we both do) could provoke a lot of backlash among those who disagree.

Also, I don't at this time believe that you've treated me or the forum with a lack of respect. If you ever do, I'll be sure to let you know, and use the quote function to illustrate. There are two or three other people who don't respect the forum and don't respect me or others who disagree with them. I won't mention their names here, but you're not one of them, and you don't need to worry your head about them.

kickstart

By communicating I mean expressing ones perceptions of another without being forced to defend them. For example, proclaiming cars are wasteful without context, therefore anyone who owns or uses one is wasteful. There is no way to take that statement as anything other than a personal criticism. When ekdog says that being car free is respectful, that implies that anyone who isn't is disrespectful.

My wife must have a car to do her job as an in home health care provider, so there's no way we can be a car free household, nor do we desire to be so, but I am car light and only drive it a half dozen times a year, therefore wasteful and disrespectful.

cooker

I don't see it. I express my opinions and nobody has to agree or even read or respond to them, but if they are challenged I will respond with my rationale or supporting data or whatever. There might be the odd person here that I get into a little more aggressive exchange with, but I think they can take care of themself.

Machka 

+1!

cooker

I think it was really the companion, not the car, that was the main issue. Had your spouse or a friend picked you up in a cab that probably would have been okay. As previously discussed, I don't think there are any such absolutists anti-car zealots here that they would refuse to ride home from hospital in a motor vehicle, if ordered by a doctor.

cooker

A lot of us here are car-light. Nobody is judging you personally for that.

cooker

There's a thread on not having a driver's license. If you respond to it out of context in other threads, it tends to muddy those other threads.
Perhaps off topic for the thread, but not nonsense. The German article clearly states their intention is to use to use taxes and tolls to shift the funding of highways onto a user-pay model (p. 109 paragraph 5) and elsewhere they report that among the expected outcomes are an increased modal share for rail (not yet realized) and reductions in greenhouse gases. So they are attempting this "rejiggger" and apparently don't consider it nonsensical. You asked for foreign examples, so if this is off-topic, I guess we are both at fault. if not the thread, it is at least relevant to the forum, because part of the cost of other people's driving is still borne by those living car-free, and I think it's fair for them to argue to escape that burden.

Mobile 155

I was thinking more along the lines of wphamilton's or Roody's example. My driver didn't have to check in with me nor stay as they were supposed to do with Roody. "So often, the things that make being carfree or even carlight difficult are ridiculous policies that are designed exclusively for dedicated car users. Often, they have you over a barrel where trying to explain your situation will do no good whatsoever, so you're forced to do an "illegal" work-around

cooker

Yes, Roody's stories were a good example of how society sometimes enforces the norm of car-dependency.